I am so excited to announce the release of my Egyptian Pectoral Collection. This series has been a long time in the making.
Many years ago I saw images in a book of some of the jewellery from King Tutankhamun's Tomb. I was fascinated. These images intrigued me with their fine details and wealth of symbolic meaning.
Later, when traveling in Egypt, I was able to see some of these pieces in person in the Egyptian Museum. To finally be able to create a collection based around these spectacular Pectorals, is a dream come true.
Below are some images of the creation of my version of Tutankhamun's Cobra's of Protection Pectoral, and Tutankhamun's Solar Boat Pectoral.
The central motif depicts the rising of the sun. The scarab beetle was associated in Egyptian mythology with the sun, as the means by which it crosses the heaven every day. Here, the golden beetle is holding the solar disk, inlayed with red garnet, in its front legs. The scarab is accompanied by two baboons, animals frequently associated with the rising sun. Moreover, the god Thoth, who is often represented in the form of a baboon, usually accompanies the sun. Upon the baboons' heads are the lunar disk and crescent. The iconography is both solar and lunar: there is the solar scarab beetle; the baboons of sunrise and the lunar deity of Thoth, symbolising both the underworld and the celestial realms; the night and the day.