From left: cat. 63, cat. 62.
Earring
New Kingdom, mid– to late Dynasty 18, about 1400–1295 BCE
Ancient Egyptian
Glass; 2.6 × 2.7 × 0.6 cm (1 × 1 1/16 × 3/16 in.)
The Art Institute of Chicago, purchased with funds provided by Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson, 1894.923
Earring
New Kingdom, mid– to late Dynasty 18, about 1400–1295 BCE
Ancient Egyptian
Glass; 2.7 × 2.5 × 0.5 cm (1 1/16 × 1 × 3/16 in.)
The Art Institute of Chicago, purchased with funds provided by Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson, 1894.924
These hoop-shaped earrings are made of translucent turquoise glass that was formed by wrapping the still-soft glass partway around a rod. A dusty gray coating remains on the inner side of each earring, a remnant of that process. While still pliable, a twisted cane of black-and-white glass was fused to the outer rim of the turquoise glass. The loops at the top of the earring secured a wire that passed through the earlobe.1
This style of earring, made of glass, stone, or metal, was very popular in Dynasty 18. Some examples have suspension loops, while others do not.2
The ancient Egyptian word for earring is shaqyu (metal ring).[1] Earrings, or at least the depiction of pierced ears, appeared for the first time during the Second Intermediate Period.[2] The fashion for wearing earrings was likely introduced from Nubia to the south. Initially earrings were worn only by women, but by mid–Dynasty 18 they were worn by adults and children of both sexes and all classes, from the king (who was shown with pierced ears but not with earrings) to commoners. Although men are shown only occasionally wearing earrings in the New Kingdom, images of men with pierced earlobes are known into Dynasty 25.[3] After that era, earrings were worn only by women and youths.3
Additional Views of Cats. 62–63
Cat. 62, front.
Cat. 62, back.
Cat. 63, front.
Cat. 63, back.
Provenance
62.
Reverend Chauncey Murch (1859–1907), Luxor, Egypt; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1894.4
63.
Reverend Chauncey Murch (1859–1907), Luxor, Egypt; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1894.
5
- Carol Andrews, Ancient Egyptian Jewelry (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990), 109.
- For a summary of the history of earrings in Egypt, see Andrews, Ancient Egyptian Jewelry, 109–11.
- Richard Fazzini, “Several Objects, and Some Aspects of the Art of the Third Intermediate Period,” in Chief of Seers: Egyptian Studies in Memory of Cyril Aldred, ed. Elizabeth Goring, Nicholas Reeves, and John Ruffle (London: Kegan Paul International, 1997), 119.
Emily Teeter, “Cats. 62–63 Pair of Earrings,” in Ancient Egyptian Art at the Art Institute of Chicago by Emily Teeter and Ashley F. Arico, ed. Ashley F. Arico (Art Institute of Chicago, 2025), https://doi.org/10.53269/9780865593213/69.
© 2025 by The Art Institute of Chicago. This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
