Authentic 1500 BC Egyptian Faience Necklace. Acquired from a well known Egyptologist in NYC 1981. Appears to be missing one attendant pendant on the right hand side of the necklace. Absolutely authenticated and confirmed by an institutional Egyptologist. The necklace is pro ported to have been imported decades previously. Encased in a Lucite Clear Case. Museum Quality. n ancient Egypt, objects created with faience were considered magical, filled with the undying shimmer of the sun, and imbued with the powers of rebirth. For Egyptians, the sculptures, vessels, jewelry, and ritual objects made of faience glimmered with the brilliance of eternity. While faience is made of common materials—quartz, alkaline salts, lime, and mineral-based colorants—it maintained important status among precious stones and metals. Faience may have been developed to simulate highly prized and rare semi-precious blue stones like turquoise. This man-made substance allowed the Egyptians to make a wide variety of objects covered in shiny, bright blue glaze—a color that was closely linked with fertility, life, and the gleaming qualities of the sun. Faience first appeared at the end of the fifth millennium B.C. and has occurred in various forms up to the present day. It may have been invented in the ancient Near East following the development of an alkaline glaze on quartz stones. Its technological refinement and major triumphs, however, were surely accomplished in Egypt. Some of the earliest faience objects made in Egypt were beads, soon followed by small votive temple offerings and royal tomb objects. Faience was inlaid into furniture and into walls as tomb and temple decoration. Case Size: 9 1/4 x 6 x 2 3/4 in. #5004