Scarab

Art Historical Context

This exquisite scarab, crafted around 1479–1458 B.C. during Egypt's New Kingdom (Dynasty 18), exemplifies the era's mastery of faience—a glazed ceramic made from quartz paste, fired to create vibrant blue-green hues evoking the Nile's fertile waters and eternal renewal. Measuring just 1.4 cm, this tiny gem from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Art collection likely produced as an amulet or seal, its beetle shape meticulously carved to represent the sacred scarab beetle. In ancient Egyptian culture, scarabs Khepri, the sun god who rolled the sun across the sky like a dung ball, embody...