FAIENCE WEDJAT-EYE AMULET c. 1090-900 B.C. The Censnola Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This Egpytian amulet is made of faience a type of ceramic made from powdered quartz with a vitreous appearance. Egyptian faience was used for making small objects and jewellery in various bright colours with blue-green being the most common. This amulet, the Eye of Horus, symbolised protection, good health and royal power.
CROCODILE figure c. 1850-1700 B.C. Rogers Fund, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
This Egyptian figure of a crocodile is in Egyptian blue, a pigment used in ancient Egypt for 1000s of years until Roman times. The colour blue was highly prized and regarded, and as naturally occurring minerals to make blue were scarce, Egyptian blue is the earliest example of a synthetic pigment. It was known to the Romans as caeruleum, from which we derive the English word cerulean.
