Large and Small Tubular Wig Ornaments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 2010

Wig rings of Sithathoryunet, on a modern wig, ca. 1887–1813 B.C.


Object Details

Period: Middle Kingdom

Dynasty: Dynasty 12

Reign: reign of Senwosret II–Amenemhat III

Date: ca. 1887–1813 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Fayum Entrance Area, Lahun, Tomb of Sithathoryunet (BSA Tomb 8), BSAE excavations 1914

Medium: Gold

Dimensions: Diam. large rings 0.9 cm (3/8 in); Diam. small rings .45 cm (3/16 in)

Credit Line: Purchase, Rogers Fund and Henry Walters Gift, 1916

Accession Number: 16.1.25–.26-related


Two boxes in the jewelry niche of Sithathoryunet's tomb seem to have held her ceremonial wigs. The wooden boxes and hair had completely decomposed, but 1,251 gold rings in two sizes that had decorated one of the wigs were preserved. They have been placed on a modern wig in an arrangement suggested by a wooden head that the Metropolitan Museum excavated at Lisht, another Middle Kingdom royal cemetery. A gold crown and a pectoral with the name of Amenemhat III, both in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, were packed in the same box with the ornamented wig.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/656816