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COSTUME OF AN EGYPTIAN BRIDE.

COSTUME OF AN EGYPTIAN BRIDE.

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OUR engraving is intended to represent an ancient Egyptian bride-one of the royal family with her attendant. The picture of which this is a copy, was made up from facts concerning the state-dresses of ancient Egypt, as put forth in various works on the antiquities of that country, and may be relied on as a correct representation of the general appearance of an Egyptian princess arrayed in her bridal robes. On her head is a cap of a reticulated appearance, from beneath which her hair hangs loosely over her shoulders, and profusely studded with gold and precious stones, giving the whole an appearance similar to the sufa or caul, as worn by the modern Egyptian females. Over her under-robe, which was made of the finest white linen, was a shorter garment, extending from the waist to the knees, and made of the most costly material. Around the waist was a zone of gold and gems, and extending downward therefrom about twelve inches was a sort of mailed work, the scales of which were formed of golden threads, interwoven with colored silk. The lower part of this robe was covered with the feathers of birds of splendid and various plumage, and around the bottom was a row of small bells, similar to those upon the pontifical robe of the Jewish high-priest. Her shoulders and breast were covered with a cape, formed also of the same costly material, and pending from the right side, was a halfmantle of scarlet cloth. On her feet were jewelled sandals, around her wrists bracelets of precious metals and stones, and pendent jewels graced her ears. Such was the appearance of the "spouse,' of whom Solomon, in his " Song" says, "How beautiful are thy feet with shoes (sandals), oh, prince's daughter!" &c.

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JEWELS.

THE ancient as well as the modern Egyptian females, were renowned for the quantity as well as for the costliness of the jewels with which they adorned their persons, and especially the head.

The Ckumarah.

Having considered the dresses of the females of the East, we proceed to notice in detail the various kinds of small ornaments worn by them.

The ckumarah, which signifies moon, is a splendid ornament worn by the women of western Asia in front of their head-dresses. It is usually made of gold, set with precious stones and pearls. They are sometimes made of the crescent form, but the most common are such as the engraving represents. They often have Arabic characters inscribed upon them, and sometimes a sentence from the Koran is used by the Mahometan women of Arabia Felix Mahomet forbade the use of rings and other personal ornaments by men, except they were made of silver. The words of his prohibition were these: "Whosoever likes to put into the nose or ear of his friend a ring of hell-fire, tell him to put on a gold ring; and he who wishes to put on the neck of his friend a chain of hell-fire, tell him to put on a chain of gold; and he who wishes to put on rings to his friend's wrists of hell-fire, tell him to put on golden ones: wherefore, be it on you to make your ornaments of silver." This prohibition extended to the women also at first, but finally they were allowed to use jewels of gold.

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The Khizam, or nose-jewel of modern Egypt.

The "ring of gold" for the nose, mentioned in Mahomet's prohibition, was doubtless similar to such ornaments now in use among the Egyptian females of wealth and rank; indeed, they are worn also by the lower classes, but of a material consistent with the means of the wearer. They are made of gold, silver, coral, mother-of-pearl, and even of horn. Some are set with a ruby be tween two pearls, and a turquois is very common. These ornaments are always of a circular form, and instead of wearing them suspended from the middle cartilage of the nose, as was once the custom of some of our Indian tribes, they are fastened to the external cartilage of the right nostril. The Koordish and Bedouin females are often seen with a thin circular plate of gold (sometimes coin), in the centre of which is a turquois. This is fastened to the nostril by a pin, after the manner of a brooch for the bosom, and makes a very conspicuous appearance.

In addition to the ckumarah, and ear and nose rings, the modern Egyptians also wear head-bands of gold or silver, and richly set

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Form of Ear-Rings. From ancient Egyptian sculpture.

with jewels. The specimen which we give is similar to those worn among the higher classes of Europe on the occasion of court drawing-rooms or other fashionable assemblages. Some are also worn by people of wealth in this country, but valuable ones formed of diamonds are rarely seen on this side of the Atlantic.

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The first of the following figures is the picture of a necklace described in "Description de l'Egypte." Such kinds were formed of gold, silver, coral, and pearl, and were similar in their form and construction to those in common use among us a few years since. The second is from Signor d'Athanasi's collection, and was found in an Egyptian tomb. It is composed of shells similar to those commonly known by the name of leopard shells. Each shell is beautifully inlaid with a fine red composition, and from between them are suspended ornaments of fine gold.

Necklaces and bracelets are in common use among the Arabian females of the present day. In fact, their whole personal wealth usually consists in their ornaments, and according to Stephens and others, it is not uncommon to see Bedouin females of the poorest class wearing gold or silver ornaments. They wear bracelets upon their arms of great weight, when compared to those worn by Europeans; nor are they content with wearing a single pair, but are seen with several-as many as they are able to buy.

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Figure 2.

Ancient Egyptian Necklaces.

Sometimes they cover their arms from their wrists to their elbows. Upon these ornaments depends the permanent consideration of the Arab females; and the Arab, who cares but little about his personal appearance, is ever anxious to deck his wife in the most extravagant manner, that honor may be reflected upon himself. poor class of women, who are unable to get bracelets of gold or silver, use copper, horn, and common glass beads. In the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis it is recorded that Eliezer gave to Rebekah "a golden ear-ring (more probably a nose-jewel) of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold.' This was a costly present-about five ounces of gold. The bracelets alone weighed four and a half ounces (ten shekels).

ears.

Our engraving represents the pendent ornaments for the nose and ears, of the full size. These ornaments were not used exclusively by the females of the East, for in Egyptian sculptures foreign warriors are represented sometimes with rings in their In those of Persepolis, they are frequently seen, and as before mentioned, such ornaments were evidently worn by men in the time of Mahomet, or else why his prohibition? As he prohibited rings of gold, they seemed careless whether they had or not, and now such jewels are never worn by the men. Among all the oriental nations, a belief in the efficacy of amulets vert an evil or obtain a blessing, is universal; and very few s are seen without one of some form or other. It was a

any

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