Ring Inscribed with the Throne Name of Amenhotep III
Unknown Artist
Amenhotep III ruled for almost four decades near the end of Dynasty 18 in the New Kingdom. He was the father of Akhenaten (sometimes referred to as the heretic king), and probably the grandfather of Tutankhamun. During Amenhotep's thirtieth year on the throne, he celebrated a rejuvination festival called the heb sed, which was repeated twice more before his death sometime in year 38 of his reign. As part of the celebration, thousands of rings were made of Egyptian faience, a ceramic material made of quartz frit that was mixed into a paste, pressed into molds, and fired. Dozens of complete rings, and many thousands of fragments, were uncovered during the Museum's excavations at the site of Malqata where the festivals took place.
The majority of the rings found at Malqata were colored with a turquoise blue glaze, but others were dark blue, green, red, yellow, or a combination of colors.
Credit: Rogers Fund, 1911