Scarab Bracelet of Tutankhamun
Forged in radiant gold and inlaid with the deep blue of lapis lazuli, this exquisite scarab bracelet is among the most intimate treasures of Tutankhamun. Two hinged semicircles clasp neatly around the wrist, their central plaque bearing the sacred beetle of rebirth, crafted in cloisonné enamel that still glows with celestial intensity.
The scarab beetle was far more than an ornament. To the Ancient Egyptians it embodied Khepri, the morning sun, forever rolling the orb of day across the sky. Just as the beetle pushed its sphere of earth, so too did Khepri renew creation each dawn. The very word for the scarab in the Egyptian language was “kheper”, which also meant to become; the verb of existence itself. Thus, when the young king wore this bracelet, he carried on his wrist the promise of eternal renewal.
The piece is finely inlaid with carnelian, lapis lazuli, and coloured glass, their luminous hues invoking the dawn, the desert, and the divine. Its small circumference suggests it was fashioned when Tutankhamun was still a child; perhaps a protective charm as much as an adornment. It was found within a cartouche-shaped box beside delicate earrings and other personal treasures, tokens of royal innocence preserved for eternity.
To wear the scarab was to harness the magic of the rising sun; a charm against darkness and decay, and a quiet hymn to life’s perpetual becoming. In this golden circle, the boy-king clasped the universe itself: rebirth bound in gold, the dawn captured upon the wrist.
The Second Scarab Bracelet of Tutankhamun
“two magnificent bracelets of gold and blue inlay, each centred by a beetle in lapis lazuli… clasped about the arms of the king himself.”
Howard Carter
There were actually two very similar scarab bracelets found in Tutankhamun’s tomb (KV62). The existence of two nearly identical bracelets is consistent with Egyptian royal jewellery practice; kings and queens often owned paired ornaments (bracelets, anklets, or armlets), representing balance and completeness, much like the duality of Upper and Lower Egypt or the twin aspects of the sun’s daily cycle.
Most modern publications highlight just one example (JE 62360), but the set as a whole symbolises the eternal duality of creation; night and day, death and rebirth, the two horizons between which the sun eternally rolls.
Forming the twin of the more famous scarab bracelet, this piece completes one of the most enchanting pairs of jewels from Tutankhamun’s tomb. The bracelet’s rigid gold band opens at a hinge and clasp, its heart adorned with a cloisonné scarab beetle of deep lapis lazuli, set within a frame of glowing carnelian and brilliant blue and turquoise glass.
This bracelet, slightly differing in detail from its companion, reflects the artisans’ instinct for harmony and duality. The pair together speak of balance, the right and left hands of the king echoing the two horizons, East and West, from which the sun rises and sets. Perhaps worn in life or intended only for eternity, these twin ornaments transform simple adornment into cosmic symbolism: jewels that bind the boy-king to the rhythm of creation itself.
Summary:
Scarab Bracelet of Tutankhamun
New Kingdom, late 18th Dynasty, reign of Tutankhamun, c. 1332-1323 B.C.
From the Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), Valley of the Kings, West Thebes.
Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 62360
