Egyptian, An Egyptian black basalt pebble pendant, Predynastic, Naqada II - III, circa 3500 - 3000 BC

Egyptian

An Egyptian black basalt pebble pendant, Predynastic, Naqada II - III, circa 3500 - 3000 BC

Basalt

Length: 4.4 cm

£ 4,200.00

Egyptian, An Egyptian black basalt pebble pendant, Predynastic, Naqada II - III, circa 3500 - 3000 BC

Enquire

The irregular rounded shaped pendant is highly polished and is drilled for suspension through a carved vertical notch.

Provenance

Dimaratos Tchacos Collection, acquired in Alexandria in the early 1960s, thence by descent
Frédérique Nussberger-Tchacos, Zurich, 1970s
Private Collection, Switzerland

Exhibitions

On Loan: Antikenmuseum Basel & Sammlung Ludwig, 1998 – 2022

Literature

These oval shaped highly polished pendants are generally drilled for suspension. They are thought to have magical as well as ornamental functions. Petrie described similar examples in stone and shell as forehead pendants, for protection, 'to distract and avert the evil eye': W.M.F. Petrie, Amulets, London, 1914, p. 29, pl. XVI, no. 130. For similar in Basel, cf. A. Wiese, Ägypten – Augenblicke der Ewigkeit: unbekannte Schätze aus Schweizer Privatbesitz, Mainz, 1997, p. 34, 14b. There is a complete necklace with a variety of such stone pebbles in the Brooklyn Museum acc. no. 09.889.301a.

Item added to cart

Important Egyptian Jewellery

Cookie preferences