His majesty said ‘Indeed, I shall go boating! Bring me twenty oars of gold-plated ebony with handles of sandalwood plated with electrum. Bring me twenty women with the shapeliest bodies, breasts and braids, and who have not yet given birth. Also bring me twenty nets and give the nets to the women in place of their clothes!’ All was done as his majesty commanded. They rowed up and down and his majesty’s heart was happy seeing them row.
Part of the Middle Kingdom Westcar Papyrus
Fig. 26 Old Kingdom sheath dress
The dresses worn by the more up-to-date members of society were also very simple in design, but far less practical for everyday wear. Fashions naturally varied, but the basic garment was always a single length of cloth which was wrapped or draped sarong-style around the body and either tied in place with a belt or held with simple sewn shoulder straps. Such garments become almost unrecognizable when off the body, and examples recovered from tombs have frequently been misclassified as sheets. During the Old Kingdom the stylish woman wore a long, smoothly fitting white sheath extending from her breast to her shin. It was made from a length of linen folded in half, hemmed and stitched into a basic tube shape, and was held in place by two broad shoulder straps. Tomb-scenes suggest that this basic dress was very tight-fitting and worn so as to reveal the form of the body beneath, although it is difficult to take such an impractical garment literally as even the most fashion-conscious girl would have found the need to be sewn into her dress and her subsequent inability to walk somewhat irksome. Presumably this represents yet another artistic convention, designed to stress the femininity of the wearer whose passive role in life is subtly emphasized by her totally impractical clothing. As an alternative to the stark white garment, decorated shoulder straps and horizontal panels of geometric patterning could either be woven or embroidered on to the dress. Tabards of beaded or pearl network worn over the plain dress gave an exciting patterned effect, and the Westcar Papyrus quoted above records jaded King Sneferu’s lecherous delight in watching his crew of nubile female rowers wearing the ‘fishing net’ beaded dresses without the customary modesty garment.
Fig. 27 New Kingdom fashion
This rather understated Old Kingdom elegance eventually gave way to a more elaborate style of attire, and the New Kingdom lady was able to select her dress from a much wider and less conservative wardrobe, with highly pleated and fringed garments providing suitable accompaniments to the more elaborate wig-styles also in vogue at this time. The standard garment was a flowing sari-like dress made from one long length of pleated cloth which was draped around the body and shoulders and tied under the bust to give an Empire-line silhouette. Finely pleated sleeves covered the upper arms to the elbow. The old-fashioned sheath dress continued to be popular, but was now covered by a shorter and more diaphanous flowing robe.
With her hair she throws lassoes at me,
And with her eyes she catches me,
With her necklace she entangles me,
And brands me with her seal ring.
New Kingdom love poem
The plain white garments provided the perfect background for the colourful and varied jewellery which was popular with men, women and children of all classes from Predynastic times onwards. Vividly coloured mass-produced beads were used in the manufacture of cheap and cheerfully eye-catching costume jewellery while, at the other end of the financial scale, valuable metals and semi-precious stones were transformed by master-craftsmen into exquisite designer pieces which are true works of art. The jewellery worn by the royal family was exclusively produced by the workshops attached to the king’s palace which, with all the resources of the royal court at their disposal, were able to develop advanced and intricate techniques such as cloisonné, granulation and filigree work. The less wealthy purchased their simple trinkets from local craftsmen or the itinerant jewellers who could always be found at the village market. Generally, whatever the standard of workmanship, the materials used in the jewellery were opaque. In contrast to our modern jewellery, it was the colour and brightness of the whole rather than the purity of individual components which created the desired dramatic effect.
The Egyptian craftsmen did not have access to the precious stones which play a major role in our modern jewellery. However, amethyst, carnelian and jasper could all be found within Egypt’s boundaries, while turquoise was mined in the Sinai desert and deep blue lapis-lazuli was imported from as far away as Afghanistan. Gold occurs naturally in the Egyptian desert both as pure seams running through quartz rock and as alluvial deposits which need to be panned; both these sources were exploited throughout the Dynastic period. Pure silver, however, was always imported from elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Silver does occur as an impurity in the native Egyptian gold, but it is very difficult to separate the two metals.9 Silver was consequently more highly prized than gold, and is less frequently encountered in jewellery. Neither metal would have been easy for ordinary members of the public to obtain, and it is obvious that there was a thriving black-market trade in illicit gold excavated from the richly-endowed royal burials by enterprising tomb robbers.