LATE PERIOD TO PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.

This necklace is especially impressive for the number and quality of amulets in blackened faience that are interspersed with carnelian barrel-shaped beads. Included are seven djed pillars of various sizes, representing the hieroglyph for “stability” as well as the conceptual backbone of Osiris. Two mummiform figures of the creator god Ptah of Memphis flank either side, while three standing figures of the falcon-headed god Horus or Re-Harakhty are arranged around a single striding figure of jackal-headed Anubis. Groups of small amulets like these were placed within the bandages of mummies, and it is likely that the darkened color of the (originally blue-green) faience amulets is due to resins or bitumen poured over the wrappings.