An Usekh collar is the iconic collar worn by ancient Egyptian royalty. Princess Neferuptah had a particularly exquisite usekh collar that contained carnelian, amazonite and glass beads. I marvel at the patience it must have taken to weave together the series of hundreds of alternating tubular carnelian and amazonite beads. On the base layer is a series of glass teardrop beads. To conceal the engineering at either end is a striking gold hawk’s head, and that also serves as an anchor point to a counterweight that royalty commonly wore in the back to ensure proper drape of their usekh.
Back in the 90s, one of my favorite computer games was Secrets of the Pyramids (here’s a play-through for those who might be interested), which had a famous game where you were Harold Peabody, a daft, but determined Egyptologist seeking to access and investigate the tomb of the fictitious pharaoh Ankh-Re. They also had a video that discussed the life and death of the Pharaoh Menkaure, whose tomb is at the Giza Necropolis. Though it was a 90s cartoon depiction, I was fascinated by the Usekh he wore. I was lucky to have grown up in Chicagoland, where I had regular access to the field museum and could get a close look at some of the artifacts, including some of the really ornate jewelry of that time.
I amassed a fare amount of cool Egyptian décor in my younger days- an Anubis statue, a sphinx statue, a Nefertiti pendant necklace, and lots of books on the matter. I didn’t pick up jewelry design until I was a little older, but my brain kept going, “That’d be cool to make one of those usekhs!”
That sat in my, “Someday…” mental file cabinet until graduate school, when I first picked up two-hole beads. Ah ha! A game changer. I sketched out a strategy in my head. I knew that I’d never be able to replicate those ornate Usekhs, but instead, I reimagined them with beads, which gave rise to the distinctive double ladder beadwork design. My first iteration took about 6 hours, but I’ve gotten it down to 3, now that I have the engineering figured out. It was a great use for some of the top-drilled gemstones that I’ve amassed over the years.
The first time I did one of these, my husband had just gotten a Dremel and tried drilling some Lake Superior agates that I had polished. In that case, the agate was the star of the show that sat at the center. These days, I find that the focal stones end up being the top-drilled stones that run along the base, like in this Autumn Amethyst one.
I really like wearing these Burnished Collar usekh-style necklace with an off-the-shoulder or square neck top. But they might also work well with a neutral mockneck or turtleneck.
How would you style a Burnished Collar necklace? Tell me!
Cheers,
Grace