interesting monuments, including ornaments found in the tomb
of a son of Rameses II., called the " Great Oppressor," which
assigns them to the age of the " Exodus," and a considerable
number of rings engraved with the names of Thothmes, Amenophis, and other rulers of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, covering a period from about 1600 to perhaps 1300 B. C.
One of the rings of this collection is set with green jasper,
bearing the figure of Thothmes II. engaged in a lion-hunt ;
another, with an engraved stone, and remarkable for its great
size, — too large to be worn on the finger, — was undoubtedly
used as a seal. The ring given to Joseph by Pharaoh may
have been of this kind. A statue in the Louvre, supposed
to be one of the oldest in existence, is represented with
bracelets composed of twelve rings ; while the Balouk
Museum, in Egypt, contains a statue adorned with an
elaborate necklace.
No engraved stones have come down from the earliest dynasties, according to the author just referred to ; but the presumptive evidence is strong that the Egyptians understood and
practised the art of engraving in these remote ages. There are
no doubts, however, that gem-cutting was a branch of industry
under the Empire, from about 1600 to 1150 B.C. Whether
they employed the lapidary's wheel, or secured the result in
some other way, it is pronounced by judges that they produced
some very fine work in this line. In cutting, they made use
both of intaglio and relief, though they appear to have had no
correct knowledge of cameo.
The Egyptians, like their successors in art, understood and
practised the method of making glass imitations, and many
ornaments of very beautiful and elaborate workmanship of this
kind have come to light. One of these jewels, in the form of
a necklace, composed of four rows of glass beads with pendants
