Cleveland Museum of Art

Winged Pectoral Scarab

Date

664–525 BCE

Medium

deep turquoise faience

Culture

Egypt, Late period (715–332 BCE), Dynasty 26

Department

Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

To create connections between their work and ancient Egypt, European and American jewelers conducted careful research, looking at sources including hieroglyphs in funerary art and architecture. The1924 Cartier scarab brooch was directly inspired by representations of the dung beetle, which also stood for Khepri, a sun deity of resurrection, while the 1927 gateway brooch echoes the silhouette of ancient Egyptian temple entrances. Beauty companies like Bourjois even adopted ancient Egyptian motifs for their marketing and packaging, suggesting the elegance of their brand through sensationalized elements of ancient Egyptian art.

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