An Egyptian Cowrie Shell Fertility Pendant, Middle Kingdom, ca. 2017 - 1750 BCE

Cowrie shells, originating usually from the Red Sea, were widely valued as amulets in the ancient world. Their resemblance to the female genitalia and, alternatively, to a squinting eye is thought to underlie a magical association with fertility and with protection from the evil eye, respectively. Generally, they are known from female burials in Egypt, but they can also accompany males. Even today, in eastern Africa and Egypt, women wear aprons sewn with cowrie shells to protect the pelvic organs from the aborting or the sterilizing effect of a malevolent gaze. The choice of material contributed to the symbolic power of the objects by the process of magical transference. The back of this lovely example has been ground away so that the shell can lie flat when strung. It has been recently mounted as a pendant necklace, with a 14-karat yellow gold ring and an 20-inch yellow gold chain of 14K gold. 

Medium: Cowrie shell, yellow gold

Dimensions: Shell length: 7/8 inch (2.2 cm)

Condition: The shell is in excellent condition. It has been restrung as a pendant on a 20-inch 14K yellow gold chain.

Provenance: Accessioned by the Edinburgh Museum of Art and Industries in 1921 and sold by Tetragon, London, 1997, to Egyptologist Geoffrey Metz, Sweden, who worked at the Gustavianum Museum, Uppsala University, Sweden, during his graduate years.