Earrings of Seti II

This earrings of King Seti II was found in 1908 with other artifacts belonging to the king and to Queen Tausert in a hiding place in the Valley of the Kings.

It is composed of a flat trapezoidal centerpiece from which hang seven pendants in the form of cornflowers. At the end of the upper hollow tube of the earring, which is meant to keep a wig in place, there is a concave corolla of eight petals on one side and a stud on the other.

The birth and throne names are engraved on the flat piece. The use of earrings and ear ornaments as accessories to enhance the beauty of both sexes has been known since the era of the New Kingdom.

These examples come from the Valley of the Kings and were found together with other items belonging to King Seti II and his consort, Queen Twosret, in an anonymous tomb that was probably used as a hiding place by the thieves that had violated the couple’s tomb.

Discovered with a cache of jewelry in the Gold Tomb (KV56) in the Valley of the Kings, West Thebes. New Kingdom, late 19th Dynasty, reign of Seti II, ca. 1200-1194 BC. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 39675