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On display

Brooch with Egyptian motif

1926 - 1926

This brooch dating from 1926 is a typical art-deco jewel. It was made by the Spanish jeweller’s Lacloche-Frères and features an Egyptian figure holding a papyrus leaf. Papyrus was used for writing. The papyrus plant which grows in the fertile Nile delta in Northern Egypt symbolizes fertility and refers to growth, youth and strength. The form of the papyrus plant is frequently associated with Hathor, the goddess of beauty and motherhood and often appears on mirror handles. On the sides of the brooch and above the figure are hieroglyphics, an Egyptian writing system. Europe’s interest in Egypt began with Napoleon’s expedition in 1798, but it was the discovery and excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 that gripped the world. The renewed interest of Europeans in ancient Egypt known as ‘Egyptomania’ reached hysterical proportions when the Belgian queen Elisabeth, the French actress Cécile Sorel, the British politician Lloyd George and the Maharaja of Poona made a pilgrimage to the site of the tomb with the press in pursuit. ‘Tut-mania’ influenced the film, fashion and luxury industries which saw an extraordinary outpouring of furniture, interior design, costumes and accessories of every description. In the 1920s jewellery houses like Van Cleef and Arpels and Lacloche Frères designed brooches and bracelets sporting Egyptian symbols like the snake, falcon, ibis and pharaoh. Jewellery designer Pierre Cartier even predicted that “the discovery of the tomb will bring sweeping changes in the fashion in jewellery.”

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