This photo of King Tut’s sarcophagus in 1924 inspired jewelry designers everywhere. (Image source: Oxford University)
In the early 1920s, in the midst of the Art Deco period, King Tut’s tomb was opened, and the most famous designers of the day turned their attention to the bold colors, elaborate designs, and iconic symbolism of Ancient Egypt. The collection of artifacts made its way around the world in fine museums, and everyone fell in love with Egypt. Egyptian motifs were found in every type of jewelry imaginable, in fabric designs, in architecture, and even in fonts.
Classic Examples
While most designers jumped head first into Egypt-mania after King Tut’s tomb became public, a few exceptional designers had already been experimenting with Egyptian themes for years.
This Egyptian Revival necklace in gold, lapis, amber, and turquoise was made by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1913, a decade before King Tut’s tomb made the news. (Source: Museum of Fine Arts Boston)
This is similar to the original colorful necklaces worn by the Ancient Egyptian royalty. If you compare the TIffany piece to one created 3,800 years earlier, the similarities are striking.
This is the Pectoral and Necklace of Princess Sithathoryunet from the 19th century BCE. It’s made of gold, carnelian, feldspar, garnet, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. (Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Why Egyptians made such great jewelry
The Egyptians appreciated good design and good jewelry perhaps more than any other ancient culture. They were lucky enough to be positioned near natural deposits of gold and several beautiful gemstones, and they were strategically positioned along important trade routes that connected cultures and markets from around the ancient world. Their traditions of decorating shrines, temples, and tombs meant that their society encouraged creativity and beauty. Because of this rich tradition, many 20th century designers saw little need to “improve” the designs and basically produced copies of the timeless originals.
This winged scarab decoration was made sometime from the late 8th to early 7th century BCE out of faience, a type of glazed pottery. (Source: Vogue)
Cartier created this winged scarab faience brooch in 1924, using diamonds, emeralds, smoky quartz, and enamel in addition to the ceramics.The faience here is actually ancient, incorporated into the contemporary materials. (Source: Museum of Fine Arts Boston)
Continued Appeal
This craze for Egyptian-inspired jewelry produced jewelry masterpieces that are collected as high-art today. These pieces from the 1920s sell for millions at auction today.
This collection of Cartier Egyptian Revival jewelry from the collection of Linda Porter (musician Cole Porter’s wife) went to auction in 2015. The scarab brooch was estimated to sell for $1 million, but it’s likely that the actual sale surpassed estimates. (Source: Vanity Fair)
While Egypt had a popularity spurt when Tut’s tomb was rediscovered, our reverence for this amazingly sophisticated ancient culture has never ceased. These designs are timeless. We see echos of Egyptian beauty in our current creations at Secrete– crafting gorgeous pieces in lapis and gold, using scarab designs, and even placing beautiful Egyptian wing motifs in engagement rings.
Do you dream of jewelry worthy of Cleopatra? Come in our store today to have a specially crafted piece designed for you today, no archeology experience required.
