The jewelry and stone vessels displayed in this gallery all come from the burial of three foreign wives of Thutmose III, who reigned in the middle of the eighteenth dynasty. Unlike the gold funerary jewelry at the opposite side of the gallery, these necklaces, bracelets, and girdles were intended for daily use. Many of the pieces are incised with the name of Thutmose III, suggesting that they were his personal gifts. The little cats of carnelian and gold, on the bracelets just to the right of the center, are particularly beautiful.

On the wall to the right you’ll see two mirrors of polished silver and gold. Their papyrus-shaped handles are adorned with the emblem of Hator, the Egyptian goddess of love and beauty. The jars below once contained expensive cosmetics such as kohl—the black and green substance that Egyptians applied around their eyes. They also believe that the deceased had to apply kohl as part of the purification rites performed before being presented to Osiris for judgment in the afterlife.

The little black stone pot below the mirrors is an Egyptian style kohl pot that belonged to one of Thutmose’s Asian born wives. It is especially interesting because the ornamental gold band around its shoulders copies an Aegean motif. This reminds us that in the Eastern Mediterranean world of the mid eighteenth dynasty, Egypt, the Aegean Islands, and the Ancient Near East were intricately connected by trade and personal interchange.