New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-11-22
OLD EGYPTIAN NECKLACES.
Oriental Jewelry Exhibit at National Arts
Club-New Art Influence.

An exhibition Of ancient. modern and Oriental
sev-s1-v Of great interest opened last week at
the National arts Club in West Thirty-fourth-st'
to continue through the month Not only Is ART
-o,,yeau represented by number OF specimens
from the atelier Of J. Walter Lawrence and Brai-
nerd 3 Thresher Of Dayton, Ohio but there Is
a1eo a collection Of articles designed and wrought
bv Miss Luther. Mrs. Knapp, Miss Mary L Pear
son and Mrs. Henry Butterworth; there are over
three hundred rings from the collection OF AeN-
ander W Drake. q case Of crosses rosaTles ana
necklaces lent by Mrs. William NJ Chase ana
largo number Of Egyptian and early Greek bead
necklaces from the collections OF MIS- GaTFell
Cbatfeld Pier and Mrs. FRANKIE H Bosworth- II
viii be seen that the exhibition strikes pretty
bread gamut- -.
Ms pier in speaking Of her necklaces. They
were made almost before instruments OF warfare
To 20 back in history as far as one can ano PLUCK
out of the bosom Of time these articles Of perscnal
adornnent is the charming thing about it to me-
You find the same impulse in the beads OF Egypt
and in the beads Of our North American Indians.
These little disks Of the most heavenly blue"-here
Mrs. Pier took up string Of hIputan QuoIts'
about one-third OF inch in diameter and Of
almost fairylike thinness--'these little disks
cut precisely as Indians cut their wampum'
in the days before the Yankee trader began manu-
featuring it for them on Staten Island That is
what interests me SO in beads-their universally
and their closeness to the very springs Of our race
life"
Mrs. Pier has spent the last three four winters
in Cairo, and of the necklaces in her collec-
ton were brought her with the fresh earth, still
clinging TO them. After washing acqusi-
ton Mrs Pier says her hands were perfumed for
days with the spices and ointments which stil
chung to the beads And that necklace was 1900
years old.
Among the particularly interesting pieces in Mrs
Piers collection s a necklace composed entirely
Of small fruits and flowers. These were made only
in one place. Tel-e-Amarna under one king
Khu-en-Aten- The necklace is over 1000 years old
These exquisite little flowers and fruits are Of
glazed pottery. and were cast in moulds Per
haps the prettfest thing about them is the fact
that each flower and each fruit was moulded so
perfectly that it has been worked out and Identi-
fed by Percy Newbury. by of funeral
wreaths carvings and other representations Of the
fauna OF ancient Egypt
The necklace In the photograph IS composed of
large. irregular shaped. fat beads. Opaque and of
a rich orange-pink color. They very rare and
date from 15S2-l22S B. c. famous necklace which
bought in London is In the form of a little
close fringe composed of red sard pendants and
white glass amphorR alternating. a handsome
gold bulla forms the pendant. This necklace was
found at Asinoe and. says Mrs. Pier. is charming
70 wear" One very valuable string of beads is Of
laPis azuli. blue paste and gold. 1t is thought to
be from royal tomb.
The earliest beads were made IN the form of Iong
slender cylinders. necklace that dates from
nearly 5000 B. c. shows succession Of lapis azul
cylinders with three pendants in the front One is
an amulet In the shape OF a heart. one is Tat
amulet meaning stability and the centre pendant
is scarab. the most important and sacred of all
standing. as II does for the Immortality OF the
soul a particularly attractive necklace dating
from the days OF the Ptolemys IS made UP OF little
square and oblong beads Of gold lapis Iazuli and
ielospar Near the front four groups Of little
fat gold beads-double beads they ara eroU,rg
side by side like many Siauaese twins The ef-
feet OF this necklace is Of double string OF OBJ
long beads caught together by the square beads
and the little double gold beads.
Some OF these strings Of beads are just as they
came from the grave for a little cleaning
while others have been restr-ag. Some Ike the
necklace OF blue disks. have been bought bead
by bead The blue disks rare end expensive
few OF TIE necklaces have been built Up by Mrs
FieE-recomposed one might almost say. as, for