Earring or Clothes Clip

Period New Kingdom Period (Ancient Egyptian, 1550–1070 BCE)

Period Third Intermediate Period (Ancient Egyptian, 1070–664 BCE)

Period Late Period (Ancient Egyptian, 664–332 BCE)

Place of OriginEgypt, Balabish necropolis, Tomb 71

Date19th–30th Dynasties (1292–343 BCE)

Dimensions1/2 in. (1.3 cm)

Mediumfaience

ClassificationJewelry

Credit LineGift of the Egypt Exploration Society

Object number

1915.88

Not on View

DescriptionWhite faience.

Label TextThis object was found in Tomb 71 at Balabish, a multi-period cemetery near Abydos excavated in 1915. It was likely worn in the hair or used as a fastening for clothing. Such rings were common in burials from the New Kingdom through the Late Period (c. 1295–332 BCE). Balabish yielded over 240 tombs, many containing modest but meaningful items like this. The object was uncovered by workmen under the supervision of British and American archaeologists and later distributed to the Toledo Museum of Art with other finds from the site.Published ReferencesWainwright, Gerald Averay, Balabish: Thirty-Seventh Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Society, London, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1920, p. 72, no. 71.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, October 29, 2010-January 8, 2012.