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Kurs: Metropolitan Museum of Art > Rozdział 1

Lekcja 9: Moc

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Pectoral and Necklace of Sithathoryunet with the Name of Senwosret II

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Met curator Adela Oppenheim on emptiness in Pectoral and Necklace of Sithathoryunet with the Name of Senwosret II dating from Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, c. 1887–1878 B.C.E.

This pectoral is composed around the throne name of King Senwosret II. It was found among the jewelry of Princess Sithathoryunet in a special niche of her underground tomb beside the pyramid of Senwosret II at Lahun. Hieroglyphic signs make up the design, and the whole may be read: "The god of the rising sun grants life and dominion over all that the sun encircles for one million one hundred thousand years [i.e., eternity] to King Khakheperre [Senwosret II]."

This cloisonné pectoral is inlaid with 372 carefully cut pieces of semiprecious stones. The heraldic design is replete with symbolism. Zigzag lines on the base bar represent the primordial waters out of which the primeval hill emerged. Each of the falcons, symbols of the sun god, clasps a circular hieroglyph meaning "encircled," thus declaring the solar deity's supreme power over the universe. The same hieroglyph, elongated to form a cartouche, encircles the throne name of Senwosret II, Khakheperre. Flanking the king's name are two ankh hieroglyphs (meaning "life") suspended from cobras whose tails are wound around the sun disk on the falcons' heads. These snakes represent Nekhbet and Udjo, the traditional protector goddesses of the king. Supporting the royal cartouche is the kneeling god Heh clutching two palm ribs symbolizing "millions of years." Thus the king's life and existence in time are described as part of a universe created and sustained by the supreme sun god.

Jewelry worn by royal women during the Middle Kingdom was not simply for adornment or an indication of status but was also symbolic of concepts and myths surrounding Egyptian royalty. Jewelry imbued a royal woman with superhuman powers and thus enabled her to support the king in his role as guarantor of divine order on earth. It was essentially the king who benefited from the magical powers inherent in the jewelry worn by the female members of his family, which explains why his name, rather than that of the princess, appears in the designs.

Since the tomb of the princess was beside the pyramid of Senwosret, scholars speculate that she was his daughter. Other items in the tomb bear the name of Amenemhat III, suggesting that the princess lived during the reigns of three of the most powerful rulers of Dynasty 12: Senwosret II, Senwosret III, and Amenemhat III.

View this work on metmuseum.org.

Are you an educator? Here's a related lesson plan. For additional educator resources from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, visit Find an Educator Resource.

. Stworzone przez: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Transkrypcja filmu video

For us, jewelry is adornment. It’s something you put on in the morning that maybe goes with your outfit, but we’re not so keyed into jewelry and its symbolism. For the ancient Egyptians, it was something that had a protective value. This is a pendant of a necklace that belonged to a woman named Sithathoryunet. We don’t really know very much about her. She lived about 1880 B.C. She’s called the daughter of a king, so we know that she was a princess. The women of the royal family had a very important role in how the king’s afterlife would be formulated. This piece actually doesn’t have her name, but on the top in the center is the name of the pharaoh Senwosret II. She may have been the daughter of this king. We have these very beautiful falcons, which represent the god Horus. The king himself when he’s alive is the god Horus, and Horus is sitting on these round signs, which reflect the sun encircling the world. They’re a symbol of eternity, they’re a protective symbol. Hanging from the cobra, these two ankh signs are symbols of life. At the bottom we have this little kneeling figure, the symbol for the word “million,” holding the symbol, “years.” Around the elbow is a tadpole, which is the numerical symbol of a hundred thousand. It’s a whole composition surrounding the name of the king with protection and eternal life. This one little piece has 372 separate inlays. And it’s about 4,000 years old. They didn’t have the kind of jeweler’s tools that we have now. Everything inlayed on the front is repeated on the back in chased decoration. And you have to imagine that nobody saw this except the princess. This piece was a magical symbol that had to be complete. We’re used to seeing these Egyptian kings, they’re very remote, you see them in stone, and they’re big and imposing. They’re not really accessible to you as human beings. Of course you wonder, “What were these people like?” There’s little biographical data. So what we’re left with is absolute shell of who she was, and then these things that she wore during her life. You’re always grasping at these little things that somehow make them real people.