Usekh collar

{{short description|Ancient Egyptian neck ornament}}

File:Broad Collar of Wah.jpg, 1981–1975 BC; faience, linen thread; Metropolitan Museum of Art]]

File:Broad collar of Senebtisi MET DP330254.jpg, 1850–1775 BC; faience, gold, carnelian and turquoise; Metropolitan Museum of Art]]

File:Broad collar met musuem.jpg

File:Broad collar.jpg

As early as the Old Kingdom (c. 2670–2195 B.C.), Egyptian artisans fashioned images of deities, kings, and mortals wearing broad collars made of molded tubular and teardrop beads.{{cite web |last1=Museum |first1=Brooklyn |title=Broad collar |url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/op3453encollection/objects/ |website=BrooklynMuseum.org |publisher=Brooklyn Museum |access-date=May 4, 2021}} The Usekh or Wesekh is a personal ornament, a type of broad collar or necklace, familiar to many because of its presence in images of the ancient Egyptian elite. Deities, women, and men were depicted wearing this jewelry. One example can be seen on the famous gold mask of Tutankhamun. The ancient word wsẖ can mean "breadth" or "width" in the Ancient Egyptian language and so this adornment is often referred to as the broad collar.

The usekh broad collar was wrapped around and supported by the neck and shoulders. It is typically adorned with closely placed rows of colored stone beads, or it is made entirely of metal. The collars were connected with clasps of gold.{{Cite web | title = Usekh Collar | access-date = 2009-03-28 | url = http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pharaoh/explore/usekh.html | archive-date = 2009-07-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090725205103/http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pharaoh/explore/usekh.html | url-status = live }}

Over time, the broad collar went through many different variations of form. These could be attributed to shifting mythological perspectives, or perhaps due to geographical movement across Egypt.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

A scene in the Fourth Dynasty tomb of Wepemnofret at Giza connects the usekh collar with dwarfs and the deity Ptah. Bernd Scheel has argued that Ptah, who is sometimes depicted wearing the broad collar, protects the deceased through the collar and that dwarves had access to that protective magic, because of their work making these types of collars.{{cite encyclopedia |first=Bernd |last=Scheel |publication-place=Hamburg |pages=159–164 |editor-last=Altenmüller |editor-first=Hartwig |editor2-last=Germer |editor2-first=Renate |publisher=Archäologisches Institut der Universität Hamburg |date=1999 |contribution=Ptah und die Zwerge |title=Miscellanea Aegyptologica: Wolfgang Helck zum 75. Geburtstag}} In the Fifth Dynasty tomb chapel of Akhethotep (originally located at the Saqqara burial ground, but now in the Louvre), one scene distinguishes between two types of collars: the broad collar and the šnw or "encircling" collar.{{cite encyclopedia |first=Edward |last=Brovarski |publication-place=[San Antonio] |pages=137–162 |editor-last=Phillips |editor-first=Jacke |publisher=Van Siclen Books |date=1997 |contribution=Old Kingdom beaded collars |title=Ancient Egypt, the Aegean, and the Near East: Studies in Honour of Martha Rhoads Bell}}