1916] on Egyptian Jewellery 571 



The design deteriorated reign after reign — more confused and 

 crowded. The splendid groups of the Dahshur jewellery have been 

 celebrated for the last twenty years. 



Two years ago the work of the British School in Egypt brought 

 to light the Treasure of Lahun, a group by the same school, or 

 perhaps the same artists, as the Dahshur riches, but in point of 

 design perhaps even finer. The pyramid I had partly explored 

 twenty-five years before, and we went there to exhaust the quest, 

 completely baring every inch of rock around it far and wide. The 

 sarcophagus of red granite in the pyramid must be accounted in 

 the jewellery. If the whole of the errors of work in that were con- 

 centrated in a little brooch they would not be perceived. The sides 

 are straight to -^^-^ inch, they are parallel to ^V ^i' xio inch, they 

 are flat all over to ^Iq inch, and in the exact proportions of all the 

 dimensions to each other, there is only gV inch variation. 



Around the pyramid was a great brick enclosure, on which 

 patrolled the guards to see that no attempt was made on the royal 

 tombs. Large stairways or shafts descended to the various tombs of 

 the princesses. At the bottom of one shaft was a granite sarcophagus, 

 the lid pushed back, the edges broken to admit a boy, and not a 

 fragment of the burial left inside it. Yet in a recess within reach 

 of it stood the two caskets of jewellery and the crown perfectly 

 undisturbed. The name is given by the alabaster jars which con- 

 tained the viscera — the Princess Sat-hathor. There were some large 

 necklaces, one of cowry shells of gold, the others of lion's heads. 

 Bracelets with gold lions, and beads of gold and carnelian. Armlets 

 of mottoes inlaid with carnelian. A mirror of silver, with a handle 

 of black obsidian and gold inlaid with carnelian. Bracelets of gold, 

 turquoise, and carnelian beads, spaced by gold bars covered with 

 minute beads. They were fastened by sliders of gold inlaid with 

 carnelian and blue faience ; the perfect work of fitting undercut 

 sliders of four inches long to run without a hitch is exquisite. 

 Originally there w^ere smaller bracelets made with plain sliders for 

 the princess, under Senusert III. ; when she became queen of 

 Amenemhat III., later on, the larger bracelets were made up, with 

 inlaid sliders. A necklace of the deepest amethyst has gold claw 

 pendants. The large outermost necklace of pendants is of the most 

 brilliant specimens of the stones that I have seen — intense red 

 carnelian, light blue-green amazonite, and strong blue lazuli. The 

 crown is of a much older pattern, the band around the head with 

 inlaid rosettes upon it. Two pectorals were found, one for the 

 princess with her father's name ; the other with her husband's name. 

 Probably the pectoral was hung by a necklace of the deep amethyst 

 beads. The later pectoral of Amenemhat III. is inlaid with lazuli, 

 green faience and carnelian. The backs of the two pectorals show 

 how superior was the design and detail of the earlier one. It was 

 inlaid with lazuli, turquoise, and carnelian. The free wavy outline 



