Ancient Jewelry. 3 



The same antiquity cannot be claimed for the specimens 

 chosen for illustration as for the relics of Queen Aah-hept ; 

 but the most recent example is of about the year B.C. 300. 

 The Assyrian earrings, Nos. 1 and 5, are from Kouyunjik 

 (Nineveh), of about 700 years before Christ. The necklace, 

 No. 2, and the earrings, Nos. 4 and 7, are from Babylon, of 

 probably a somewhat later elate. The ring, No. 3, representing 

 the figures of Serapis, Isis, and Horus, is of the Ptolemaic 

 period, about B.C. 300 years. The bracelet, No. 8, is inscribed 

 with the name of Namrut (Nimrod), an Egyptian prince of the 

 twenty-second dynasty, from Sais, and therefore dates from 

 about 500 years before Christ. The numbering has been 

 arranged on the principle of taking the most simple forms and 

 workmanship first, having some regard also to age. 



The earring, No. 1, although not actually existing as a gold 

 specimen, is found so repeatedly on the colossal bas-reliefs of 

 the Nimrod collection, that it may be taken as a very common 

 type of ornament, and although certainly elegant in form, is of 

 very simple construction. It may have been cast solid, or 

 struck with a punch in two pieces, and soldered together. It 

 is scarcely probable that it was cast solid, as in that case its 

 excessive weight would render it painful and even unsafe to 

 wear. That the Assyrians certainly, and probably the Egyp- 

 tians also, we're in the habit of casting ornaments in metal, we 

 have distinct evidence in the ring moulds discovered by 

 Mr. Layard, and exhibited in the Nineveh collection. Not 

 only have we there a mould for casting rings — not a mould of 

 sand, as used in modern times, but of some chalky or clayey 

 substance, in which the subject is cut in both halves of the 

 mould, with a proper gate wherein to pour the melted metal, 

 and radiating lines to admit of the escape of the air — but also 

 small bells and weights, on which the distinct ridge left by the 

 juncture of the mould is still visible. But even for so rude a 

 piece of jewelry as a cast earring, some mechanical appliances 

 are necessary beyond the mould and the metal. Some sort of 

 furnace must have been erected, with probably wood for fuel, 

 and an inflated pig-skin for a bellows. The workman must 

 also have had crucibles, and some kind of iron pincers to lift 

 his gold out of the fire. 



But it is more probable that the earring hi question was 

 hollow — struck by means of a punch in two - halves, and 

 soldered together. This is undoubtedly the method pursued in 

 the manufacture of the chain, No. 2 ; and adopting this con- 

 clusion, we must pre-suppose the carving or moulding of iron 

 or bronze punches, and the knowledge of the several delicate 

 operations which go to complete a soldered juncture of metals. 

 We have no difficulty in determining the fact of the use of 



