Earrings of Ramesses XI
This pair of gold earrings, bearing the cartouche of King Ramesses XI, was found on a female mummy. They are formed of convex disks grooved along the edge and decorated with five uraei, or royal cobras, on the outer face.
Photographed in Cairo by Albert Shoucair for the book for the book, Jewels of the Pharaohs by Cyril Aldred, 1971. Thames and London Limited.
The three snakes in the middle bear a sun disk while the two outer ones wear the Atef crown. Five other snakes are attached to the sheet of gold, which is welded to the lower part of the disk and decorated with an image of the winged sun disk. The five cobras rest on a small bar from which hang seven pendants.
Ramesses XI was once thought to be the son of Ramesses X by Queen Tyti who was a King’s Mother, King’s Wife and King’s Daughter in her titles.
Ramesses XI is believed to have married Tentamun, the daughter of Nebseny, with whom he is assumed to have fathered Duathathor-Henuttawy—the future wife of the high priest Pinedjem I. Ramesses XI may have had another daughter named Tentamun who became king Smendes’ future wife in the next dynasty.
New Kingdom, 20th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses XI, ca. 1107-1078 BC. From Abydos. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 6085, 6086
