The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Pendant

Pendant

c. 700 BCE
(1069–715 BCE)
amethyst and gold
Overall: 3.5 x 2.9 x 2.7 cm (1 3/8 x 1 1/8 x 1 1/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1987.1
Location: 107 Egyptian

Description

This pendant consists of two parts: a superbly carved lion’s head in amethyst that has been set into a D-shaped gold base consisting of a platform surrounded by eight seated baboons. The lion’s head is an heirloom from the New Kingdom, most likely a gaming piece that had been adapted in the Napatan period to serve as an pendant amulet. This procedure was fairly common in antiquity as a means of recycling precious stones. The importance of leonine deities in Nubian religion was obviously the motivating force behind the creation of this spectacular ornament.
  • Purchased from Galerie Nefer, Zurich; Nefer 5 [1987], no. 50, color
  • Markowitz, Yvonne and Peter Lacovara. "An Amethyst Gaming Piece Transformed." Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 1(1996): 6-11. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 6-7, fig. 1a-d www.jstor.org
    Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 444
    Lacovara, Peter, Yvonne J. Markowitz and Sue D'Auria. Nubian Gold: Ancient Jewelry from Sudan and Egypt. Cairo; New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2019. Mentioned: p. 148; Reproduced; p. 149, fig. 125a-b
  • The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988).
    CMA, 24 February-17 April 1988, The Year in Review for 1987, cat.: CMA Bulletin 75, no. 2 (February 1988), no. 6
  • {{cite web|title=Pendant|url=false|author=|year=c. 700 BCE|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.1