Forme, colori, funzione dei collari usekh: confronto tra immagine e modello reale

Abstract

This study deals with usekh collars in funerary wall relieves and paintings from the Old
Kingdom to the New Kingdom. The article points out the importance of tomb decorations not only
in terms of art history but also for the comprehension of the findings.
The method employed in this research is based on the comparison between images and real
patterns. Here is illustrated the usefulness of examining real objects for a correct reading of the
images and to demonstrate their exactness. At the same time is demonstrated the significance of
images that can show objects not found during the excavations or that still have not been
appropriately assembled.
In this way it has been possible to distinguish among funerary wall relieves a particular kind of
usekh collar and a pendant (Old Kingdom) still not found and some patterns of usekh collar
showed in the New Kingdom wall paintings. Furthermore it is suggested the reconstruction of a
gold collar (New Kingdom) displayed in the British Museum.
Then attention is given to the form of these jewels, the people who wore them and the kind of
scenes in which they appear in a funerary representation in order to understand the meaning of
the representation itself and in what way reality was illustrated.
To conclude is proposed another essential feature of this issue: the relationship between
colours (of images reproducing real stones) and stones (material of real jewels) with some
conjecture about their symbolism.