Is King Tut's Necklace from Outer Space?

Originally published August 26, 2009 | Heritage Key | by Sean Williams

It had occurred to me that something was odd about this scarab. I had seen it many times while reading. The color of the scarab seemed unusual. I suppose feldspar was not immediately available to the craftsmen who created this masterpiece, so they settle on using this meteoric glass. I wouldn't put it past Tutankhamun to want something unusual incorporated into his jewelry, coming from a family who had ignored the rules of tradition of any medium. As much as Tutankhamun tried to disassociate himself from the ways of his father, I suspect he enjoyed a bit of artistic freedom himself. After all, the presence of the Aten and the portly belly-skinny limb rendering of his own likeness were evident in his artifacts.

This brings to mind the age of the Sphinx, but that's another, very long-winded, discussion.

My Own Egyptian Jewelry and Artwork

The last few weeks have proven to be filled with many opportunities to draw and create ancient Egyptian jewelry and clothing. I have provided some pictures of my mini (and not so mini) projects:

© 2009 Jenny Hale

^My sister needed some extra hands when she was busily sewing and putting pieces together for Metropolis' production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I remembered our conversation as we sat waiting for Emily Teeter to begin a lecture at the Oriental Institute: we discussed some design ideas for Pharaoh's cape; I offered that she implement Nekhbet or Horus because he's an Elvis-like Egytian king. My sister liked the idea and several months later I began creating it (as I watched Ghostbusters I and II), with my sister creating the pattern and me sketching and painting the design, paying close attention to symmetry.

© 2009 Jenny Hale

^One of the Youth Reference librarians with whom I work asked me to make a few shrinky dinks designs so that she could use them as examples for when she taught her Shrinky Dinks class in early July. This was my second design, but first successful shrinky dink (the one below is version II, the first version having folded in on itself; that became an example of what an unsuccessful shrinky dink looks like). Using Berol Prismacolor art pencils, I drew within the cartouche my name spelled in New Kingdom hieroglyphs (if you have a keen eye, you'll notice I forgot a glyph).

© 2009 Jenny Hale

^As I mentioned above, this pectoral Shrinky Dink is my second attempt; the first one didn't uncurl and stayed folded. My inspiration for this Shrinky Dink comes from one of Tutankhamun's pectorals. Where his names would have been, I put my name in Egyptian hieroglyphs (a play on Nefertiti's names...that is totally not big-headed of me lol). Again, I used Berol Prismacolor art pencils, as they work very well.

© 2009 Jenny Hale

^Using Berol Prismacolor art pencils and drawing inspiration from Tutankhamun's earrings, I created this pair of Shrinky Dink earrings. My sister, who has pierced ears unlike myself, tried them on and they work perfectly.

© 2009 Jenny Hale

^Inspiration for this last one, also colored using Prismacolor art pencils, comes from two of Sesostris III's pectorals (one for the vulture and another for the hieroglyphic lettering). I made this to give to a friend that was getting ready to go into the Air Forces. Tomorrow it will probably be on a plane to Texas where my friend is going through boot camp. Notice the hieroglyphs "Lord of the Sky." It is ment to be a memento, something to remember me by.

© 2009 Jenny Hale

^All of my Shrinky Dink creations together.