Broad Collar of Wah

Period:: Middle Kingdom

Dynasty:: Dynasty 12

Reign:: reign of Amenemhat I, early

Date:: ca. 1981–1975 B.C.

Geography:: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Southern Asasif, Tomb of Wah (MMA 1102), Mummy, in wrappings on chest, MMA excavations, 1920

Medium:: Faience, linen thread

Dimensions:: H. 34.5 cm (13 9/16 in.); W. 39 cm (15 3/8 in.)

Credit Line:: Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1940

Accession Number:: 40.3.2

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 105

This broad collar is one of the finest examples of its type from the early Middle Kingdom. It was carefully designed using beads of diminishing lengths to create the curved form. Although a few areas needed reinforcing with modern thread, the stringing is almost entirely original. Known as a wesekh in ancient Egyptian, this type of necklace adorns statues (30.8.57, 30.8.3), coffins (30.3.7, 25.3.182), and participants in banquet and offering scenes (13.183.3, 12.184, 28.3.35) from the Old Kingdom on. The collar is part of a set of funerary jewelry belonging to Wah, the estate manager of Meketre.

Wah's broad collar (40.3.2), anklets and bracelets (40.3.3–40.3.10) were made as funerary ornaments for the burial and were found in the layers of linen wrapping that were closest to the body; the collar had been tied around the neck, and the bracelets and anklets had been laid over the lower arms and legs. They are all made of a ceramic material called Egyptian faience. Beaded jewelry sets of this type are illustrated in the object friezes that decorate many Middle Kingdom coffins, and fragmentary examples have been found in numerous tombs of the period.

Mummy of Wah excavated by the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1920. Acquired by the Museum in the division of finds, 1920. Mummy unwrapped in New York, 1940.

Hayes, William C. 1953. Scepter of Egypt I: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Part I: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 307, fig. 198.

Scott, Nora E. 1964. "Egyptian Jewelry." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new ser., vol. 22, no. 7 (March), pp. 226–27, fig. 6; p. 230.

Roehrig, Catharine H. 2015. "Jewelry of the Overseer of the Storehouse Wah." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 137–38, no. 69A.

Oppenheim, Adela 2015. "Artists and Workshops: The Complexity of Creation." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 25.

Arnold, Dieter and Adela Oppenheim 2015. "Excavations by The Metropolitan Museum of Art at Middle Kingdom Sites." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 313.

Timelines
Egypt, 2000–1000 B.C.

Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom
The Art of Ancient Egypt: A Resource for Educators
"Egyptian Art": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 22, no. 7 (March, 1964)
"Life Along the Nile: Three Egyptians of Ancient Thebes": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 60, no. 1 (Summer, 2002)
Metropolitan Museum Studies in Art, Science, and Technology
The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom

Department

Egyptian Art (27,372)

Object Type / Material

Geographic Location

Date / Era

2000–1000 B.C. (20,411)

Floral Collar from Tutankhamun's Embalming Cache

Date: ca. 1336–1327 B.C. Medium: Papyrus, olive leaves, persea leaves, cornflowers, blue lotus petals, Picris flowers, nightshade berries, faience, linen Accession: 09.184.214 On view in:Gallery 122

Floral collar from Tutankhamun's Embalming Cache

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Collar Necklace of Hapiankhtifi

Date: ca. 1981–1802 B.C. Medium: Faience, blue green and black Accession: 12.183.12 On view in:Gallery 112

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Date: ca. 1200–1186 B.C. Medium: Gold Accession: 30.8.66 On view in:Gallery 124

Floral Collars from Tutankhamun's Embalming Cache

Date: ca. 1336–1327 B.C. Medium: 09.184.214: Papyrus, olive leaves, persea leaves, cornflowers, blue lotus petals, Picris flowers, nightshade berries, faience, linen 09.184.215: Papyrus, olive leaves, cornflowers, linen 09.184.216: Papyrus, olive leaves, persea leaves, nightshade berries, celery (?), faience, linen dyed red Accession: 09.184.214–.216-related On view in:Gallery 122