Beads & Crowns: Details Which Further Distinguish Upper Egypt From Lower Egypt
The specific beads that are often found on the beaded apron and beaded hip drape distinguish Upper Egyptian pharaohs from Lower Egyptian pharaohs. Upper Egyptian royalty typically donned the lotus flower while Lower Egyptian royalty sported the papyrus. When both style beads occur on the same apron and/or hip drape it shows the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. This is an example of an artist recreation (Patch, Diana Craig. “A “Lower Egyptian” Costume: Its Origin, Development, and Meaning.” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt (1995), http://www.jstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/stable/40000833?&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents) of a “unified” beading pattern (Middle Kingdom, Dynasty, early-late 13, ca. 1850–1775 B.C., http://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/692409). The beads beginning the strands at the top on the left are the lotus and the beads beginning the strands at the top on the right are the papyrus. There are many crowns of Ancient Egypt but probably to two most identifiable ones are those of Upper and Lower Egypt, the hedjet or white crown and the deshret the red crown, respectively. When the crowns are merged into what is known as a double crown (Palette of King Narmer: Reference: symbols of kingship, Narmer, King of Egypt, fl. ca. 3100 B.C., http://library.artstor.org.prox.miracosta.edu/library/iv2.html?parent=true#) this also signals a unification of Upper and Lower Egypt but separate the crowns differentiate the rulers of the two regions.
Very cool. The only example I knew of was the upper/lower combination crown. It’s fascinating that they also did it with beads. I suspect there may be other comination motifs to show this unity. Why would it be something cultural that they would want to display, do you think?
You should check out the Palette of Narmer; it’s a make-up palette from pre-dynastic Egypt that commemorates the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt.
There are other combinations which are spoken of in some of the literature I have read but finding examples, primary or secondary, have proven difficult. There also seems to be much more evidence period, particularly visual from Lower Egypt than Upper Egypt which leads me to believe that it either hasn’t been collected, it hasn’t been well studied and/or written about, or we just don’t have access to it. So the papyrus and the lotus hold specific meanings so perhaps the lotus more correlated with the values and beliefs of Upper Egypt while the papyrus; Lower Egypt. Then there are also reappearances and disappearances of certain motifs from Kingdom to Kingdom and Dynasty to Dynasty. So some are probably religion based while others may just by personal preference, like a symbolic fashion statement…