Artwork Page for Vulture Headdress Inlay

Details / Information for Vulture Headdress Inlay

Vulture Headdress Inlay

100–1 BCE

Egypt, Greco-Roman period (332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty

(305–30 BCE)
Medium
gold and semi-precious stones
Measurements
Overall: 3 x 2.8 cm (1 3/16 x 1 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1920.1991
Public Domain
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Location
107 Egyptian
Print
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Did You Know?

When creating this headdress, artisans used numerous semiprecious stones with inset partitions to keep them separate. To ensure that the stones would stay in place, a resin-like material was used as an adhesive.

Description

The vulture headdress was worn by goddesses and queens. This inlay in the form of a vulture headdress has more than 100 stones: lapis lazuli (dark blue), turquoise (light blue), petrified wood (red), and an unidentified white stone painstakingly cut to shape and separated by thin plates of gold. Body, wing, and tail feathers are carefully distinguished in minute detail.
An abstract vulture features a triangular point, wing hanging down, and tail feathers extending from the back, all inset with colorful stones divided by fine gold strips. The front and strip just before the tail feathers have the smallest, fine-feathered sections inset with blue stone with white strips. The wing and tail feathers are longer and red, dark blue, and turquoise blue. A red band cuts vertically down just before the triangular point.

Vulture Headdress Inlay

100–1 BCE

Egypt, Greco-Roman period (332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE)

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