Wings

  • Egypt
  • 1st century B.C. - 1st century A.D.
  • Glass
Catalogue Entry

These works are shaped in the form of spread wings, made up of the same mosaic elements cut into two sections which are then combined in reversed front to back pairs. The detailed areas of the wings are shown in black, cobalt, white, yellow, red, blue, green and turquoise. Glass (a) and lapis lazuli (b) scarabs have been placed into the space between the wings. Winged scarabs were used as burial goods in ancient Egypt, but these scarabs are not of the same period as their wings and were assembled at a later date. These works and the majority of the examples of mosaic glass used for inlay which are included in this exhibition come from European private collections assembled at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. During that period it was the fashion to back and outline these works in gold, or as here, reconstruct them with other elements.