A Beaded Scarab in the Victoria and Albert Museum

A beaded scarab in context

Although Flinders Petrie is best known for his excavations undertaken on behalf of the – then – Egypt Exploration Fund, between 1887 and 1892 he acted independently. During this time, his work was funded by two private individuals and friends, Jesse Haworth and Martyn Kennard. ¹ In a similar arrangement to the partage organised between the Fund and Cairo authorities, both Haworth and Kennard were entitled to retain a portion of the finds from the excavations they supported; much of this material would go on to be donated to British museums.

Much of Haworth’s collection is today held in the Manchester Museum. Haworth, a cotton magnate from Lancashire, continued to support the museum throughout his life. ² However, other museums also received donations of excavated material. The piece under discussion here, a beaded winged scarab from inside a sarcophagus, was donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum (henceforth V&A) by Haworth following its discovery at Lahun, 1889–90 (fig. 1). ³ That season’s excavation report notes that many examples of such beadwork were found, although the report is otherwise sparse on details. ⁴

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Fig. 1.

Beaded scarab 421-1890 (photo: author. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum).

The scarab, measuring 35 cm by 15.5 cm, is today within a wooden frame of 39.8 cm (w) by 19 cm (h) by 3.5 cm (d). It comprises disk-beads in four colours – red, turquoise, white and black – individually measuring 0.2 cm by 0.5 cm. These are mostly strung together in pairs to make the design, as is typical in other examples. ⁵ In most instances, the turquoise has since degraded to green or even white, save for a few exceptions on the secondary wing feathers. ⁶ The body of the scarab is formed from black disk-beads, with the elytra and space between the body and legs outlined in turquoise, and the eyes by individual red beads. The entire body in turn lies within a rectangular white ground. On many examples of beaded scarabs, a sun-disk is held in each of the top and bottom pair of legs; however, the V&A’s example cannot originally have extended any further to include these, as the surrounding diagonal netting into which the scarab was woven can be seen at both top and bottom edges. The wings have a lozenge design, alternating in diagonal rows of red and turquoise bordered by white; the left-hand wing exhibits several lozenges where incorrect coloured beads have been threaded. The primary wing feathers are black, and the secondary feathers alternate red and turquoise, again all bordered in white.

Scarabs such as this would have formed part of a far larger ‘shroud’ made of turquoise cylinder beads, woven into a net and placed over the entire body within the sarcophagus. ⁷ As already noted, the remains of the diagonal netting into which this scarab was originally woven can be seen in figure 1. The V&A has a further small example of such netting, unfortunately of unknown provenance, which incorporates additional yellow-white ring beads at the intersection of the cylinder beads (fig. 2). In the simplest and earliest of such nets, the network of diagonally threaded beads covered the body, with amulets such as scarabs and the Sons of Horus joined to it as separate amulets. ⁸ Over time, the nets developed into a more complex form including a full face, broad-collared necklace, winged scarab over the chest, depictions of the sky goddess Nut and Sons of Horus, and sometimes a vertical band of inscription, all woven from beads themselves. ⁹

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Fig. 2.

Unnumbered fragment of mummy-netting (photo: author. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum).

Petrie dated Lahun graves containing such netting to the Twenty-Second Dynasty. ¹⁰ Research continues to agree that the tradition of placing beaded nets over the mummy began during the Third Intermediate Period, ¹¹ continuing through into the Ptolemaic Period, with the emergence of beaded scarabs and faces occurring in the Late Period. It has been suggested that the form of beaded nets ultimately relates to the beaded dresses known from the Old Kingdom. ¹² However, such dresses are typically associated with females, whereas the funerary nets are associated with both male and female burials. There is also a long chronological gap between beaded dresses and the emergence of beaded nets. ¹³ Others have suggested that the practice may have developed from or been inspired by Nubian customs. ¹⁴ At the other chronological end, it is possible that beaded nets are the origin of the reticulated bandage pattern often found on Roman Period mummies, which would speak to their lasting significance. ¹⁵

The symbolism of beaded nets has been thoroughly discussed. ¹⁶ All interpretations connect their meaning primarily with the rebirth of the deceased into the afterlife, and solar deities linked to regeneration. The form of the net itself has been understood as a reference to the symbolic net with which the deceased could entrap and neutralise potential dangers on the journey to the afterlife. ¹⁷ Arnst therefore refers to it as a ‘Ganzkörper-Amulet’. ¹⁸ In the Book of Gates, the 10th Hour recounts the battle with Apophis and his neutralisation with nets; the deceased as Osiris therefore mirrored this journey through the beaded net placed over their body. Indeed, Osiris – the prototypical figure of regeneration, with whom the deceased was assimilated – seems to have been a primary symbolic referent for beaded nets. A Twenty-Sixth Dynasty net actually bears faience plaques at the intersections between beads, with the name of the deceased on one side and that of Osiris on the other. ¹⁹ Specifically, bead nets may relate to a form of Osiris called Wsỉr ḥmȝg, ‘Osiris the Wrapped’, who is attested from the Twenty-First Dynasty onwards, roughly correlating with the emergence of beaded nets. ²⁰ As the root ḥmȝg has connotations of both ‘to wrap’ and by extension ‘to protect’, ²¹ Zibelius-Chen suggests that it may have been used as the (today unknown) term for the beaded net itself. ²²

The various amulets woven into or attached to nets further reinforce a relationship with predominantly solar deities related to regeneration of the deceased. The goddess Nut was both the mother of Osiris, and swallowed the sun each evening to facilitate its daily rebirth. Indeed, from the New Kingdom onwards, a beaded garment is often shown on depictions of Nut. ²³ Alongside the symbolism of protection discussed earlier, it has also been suggested that the shape of the net relates to the pattern of stars often depicted across Nut’s body, and may be intended to represent the sky itself. ²⁴ Although of later date, it is worth mentioning here a scene within the Kom el-Shoqafa mausoleum, which depicts the deceased as Osiris in a network of either beads or bandages, which are entwined with images of the moon, stars and other astral symbols. ²⁵ The fringe sometimes found on nets has been suggested to recall the sun’s rays, again referencing the deceased’s transformation into a solar being. ²⁶

The beaded face woven into nets typically depicts the false beard of Osiris, although the face itself has been identified as numerous figures. ²⁷ Part of the problem with interpretation is that such faces are attested in several colours – red, green, yellow and blue. They have been associated with Horus, son of Osiris, due to phonetic similarity between the divine name and the hieroglyphic symbol for the face. ²⁸ Others have identified the faces as representations of the deceased themselves. ²⁹ Arnst suggests the face represents the sun, given the overt solar symbolism of the other elements of beaded nets, with the multiple attested colours alluding to the various phases of the sun’s cycle. ³⁰ It is possible that the faces held multiple contiguous meanings, but regardless of the specific figure depicted, the varying interpretations all agree on a solar connotation, and thus a relationship to the deceased’s transformation.

Beaded scarabs such as the piece under discussion here fit entirely into the foregoing symbolic scheme. The scarab beetle was associated with morning sun-god Khepri and its journey, and winged scarabs such as the V&A’s example, bedecked with falcon feathers, enhanced the solar connotations further through association with the winged sun-disk and divine falcon Horus Behdety. ³¹ The scarab beetle was furthermore a symbol of regeneration itself, through its daily reappearance from the ground. ³² As with the other amulets on beaded nets, therefore, the presence of a winged scarab linked the rebirth of the deceased to the rising and passage of the sun.

Considering the complex symbolism of beaded nets, the colour choices of the beads comprising the V&A’s scarab warrant mention. Turquoise is well established as being associated with concepts of rebirth and regeneration, as is black with Osiris. The use of red however bears solar meanings. ³³ In the context of beaded nets, Arnst links both red and turquoise with aspects of both the evening and morning sun, and therefore its daily passage and transformation, again reflecting that of the deceased. ³⁴

Discovery of the scarab

Compositionally, this example of a scarab is well paralleled elsewhere. Close parallels of the design are Boston MFA 72.4629 and 27.443, although the latter in particular is largely reconstructed. A specific point of interest lies in its presentation, which illustrates the method by which such delicate assemblages were removed from the body and transported. The scarab lies in a wooden frame, surrounded by a thick layer of wax. Petrie described how such a process was used to remove the netting from bodies whilst preserving the designs, as the threading had typically decayed away:

When opening tombs of this age I always cut or drew the pegs, which fastened the coffin lids, as gently as possible. Then, looking in, I saw if there was any pattern beadwork on the body. If there were, the coffin was moved without the slightest shake, as all the threads were rotted out, and the beads lay loose. I then fetched a petroleum stove, and pot of wax; melting the wax down in the tomb I then slopped out spoonfuls of it over all the beads. If too hot it sinks in too deep, and sticks to all the bandages below; it should be just on the point of chilling. If poured on to the beadwork it runs away in a narrow stream; it needs to be dashed on, sufficiently sharply to spread it, but not hard enough to move the beads. When the coat is laid, and has hardened, it may be lifted up with all the beads sticking together, and then transferred to a tray and fixed in with more wax. This is the only way to preserve these bead patterns when the thread has decayed. ³⁵

The results of this procedure are clearly visible on the scarab. A hole in the very left-centre of the wax is probably the result of a skewer or pin which might have been stuck into the wax to help lift the mass off once it had cooled.

To conclude, this scarab is noteworthy in two respects. Firstly, its display acts as a fascinating legacy of both its excavation history and contemporary fieldwork methods. Secondly, it provides a rare example of bead-netting where the original stringing and composition have remained intact.