Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (i.e. 11th - 14th Dynasties)
a Talismanic, Flat-Openwork Bangle [British Museum no. EA24787]
circa 2055 - 1650 B.C.
Cradled within a one-registered weave of soldered silver and gold, an orderly procession of ‘amuletic' animals and symbols fixedly parade within their ancient pride of place. From dashing hares and all-seeing wedjats to watchful, ever-alert hawks, each icon stoically tunnels within its allotted slot among its dignified comrades, securely encased by two mirrored eaves of hammered gold. Their unified purpose is one of protection and power, an energy with which they positively imbue their wearer. On his or her behalf, they fight off the dual-faced cunningness of evil; they guard one’s unassuming wariness with the fidelity equal to that of [wo]man’s best friend; and in rotational turn, each banishes the unrelenting daemons borne from within the human soul itself, again and again, like warriors within a dimensionless battle. Additionally, in terms of aesthetics, it is said (by an anonymous member of the British Museum (London)) that both the bangle’s tapering tails are rather ‘clumsily’ hewn, especially in light of the comparative details set inside the band margins. However, is it not a matter of perspective which acts to define the truth behind an individual's impression - an idea which, in fact, may make a bangle such as this nothing less than a pool of collected, many-faceted opinions regarding the certainty of beauty, despite its imperfections? Perhaps the answer lies in the folds of history, waiting to be rediscovered by those imprisoned in a cycle of life that it, and only it, chose to enforce from the start.
