Gems of 1900 B.C. Exhibited in U.S.

1919

ARE BRIGHT AS NEW, THO 3800 YEARS OF AGE.

Were Worn by Egyptian Princess and Found in 1914 by English Scientist.

NEW YORK, N. Y. — Jewelry worn by an Egyptian princess of the twelfth dynasty, nineteen hundred years before the Christian era, was displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It is declared to be the finest collection of personal adornment ever brought out of Egypt.

When marauders entered the tomb of Princess Sathathoriunut at some odd moment in the last 3,800 years they took away her mummy and even the elaborate funeral trappings, but overlooked a niche containing the wonderfully wrought ornaments she wore when attending the ancient equivalent for a first night at the opera.

Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie, head of an English archaeological society, dug the collection out in 1914, and today it looks as bright as if it had just come from the makers.

It consists of a gold necklace inlaid with carnelian lapis lazuli and green feldspar and another pectoral similarly made of King Senusert II., father of the princess.

There is also a gold collar of double lion heads, a girdle of gold with rhombic jeweled heads, a necklace of amethyst with gold lion claw pendants, armlets and bracelets with gold bars and beads of gold, carnelian and turquoise; and parts of the princess' jewel box, made of ebony with gold and carved ivory panels.

The jewels are identified as belonging to the princess by her name and the name of her father in cartouches on the larger pieces. According to custom, the Cairo museum retained the choice of the collection, a diadem.

Since its purchase by the museum the collection has been in a vault in London, stipulation having been made that it should remain there until six months after hostilities closed.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 12.