Fascinating Details About Egyptian Gold Cartouches
Thousands of years ago, the cartouche was a revered symbol in ancient Egypt. This oval shape with a flat end was used to frame the name of a ruler. Fast forward thousands of years to the 21st century and an Egyptian gold cartouche can be a fun reproduction of a historical item or a meaningful object that includes the name of someone important to you; eBay has a wide selection.
Is there a difference between the types of gold?Your Egyptian gold cartouche may look or feel differently depending on which one of these materials used to make it.
- Gold-colored: A variety of metals and pigments combine to get a warm, yellowish color.
- Gold-plated: This is a cartouche with actual gold used as plating and another metal inside the plating.
- 14k gold: 14k gold is a mix of gold and other metals. It is quite sturdy and has a faintly silver hue.
- 18k gold: 18k gold is a type of alloy with a high percentage of gold, so it has a shiny, yellow appearance.
- 24k gold: Also called solid gold, this is gold not mixed with other strengthening ingredients.
It is possible to find personalized Egyptian cartouche jewelry that lets you put any name inside the oval. You can have names written in a modern alphabet or with names written in hieroglyphs. The latter, antique Egyptian language used small pictures instead of letters, and each picture represents a different sound. A modern name with multiple consonants is often represented with only a few hieroglyphs.
Types of jewelry that use the cartouche symbolEgyptian gold cartouches have a clean, simple shape that can work in a variety of jewelry styles. You can wear pendants as an Egyptian necklace or gold cartouche earrings. You can also find gold Egyptian cartouches shaped to work as a cartouche ring, cartouche bracelet, or even cartouche cufflinks.
The symbolism of a cartoucheThe cartouche shape is meant as a stylized version of a rope wrapped around a name and tied closed. It was called "shen," which means "encircled." In ancient Egyptian times, the Egyptian cartouche represented all that the sun enclosed, so it was both a protective symbol as well as one of the pharaoh's power.