Earring
New Kingdom, mid- to late Dynasty 18, about 1400–1295 BCE
Medium
Glass
Dimensions
2.7 × 2.5 × 0.3 cm (1 1/16 × 1 × 1/8 in.)
Classification
jewelry
Department
Arts of Africa
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
842
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
An Ancient Egyptian craftsman created this earring by first softening dark-blue glass with heat and bending it around a rod. They then fused a cane of white glass to the main body of the earring. Though a portion of this piece has broken off, originally this earring would have had two loops at the top that allowed the wearer to string a wire through and hang it from their pierced ear. This particular style was popular during the New Kingdom (about 1550–1069 BCE), when Egyptian men, women, and ch...
About the Artist
Ancient Egyptian
Ancient Egyptian artists, a collective of highly skilled artisans spanning over three millennia from the Predynastic period (c. 6000–3150 BC) to the Roman era (30 BC–4th century AD), produced some of humanity's most enduring masterpieces. These anonymous craftsmen, often organized in state-sponsored workshops, lived in dedicated communities like Deir el-Medina near Luxor during the New Kingdom (c....