Skip to main content

Glazed bead: E.398.1932

An image of Bead
View image details

Terms of use

The low-resolution images published on this Website are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-ND). For more details: Fitzwilliam Terms of Use

This licence does not include any images of works that are still in copyright. Artistic copyright extends from the life of the artist to 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

Download this image

For further information on use of images or to license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who can discuss terms and fees.

Current Location: Gallery 24

Titles

Glazed bead

Entities

Categories

Description

Bead with spiral decoration

Faience (glazed ware) bead or model mace head. The spiral decoration is the usual way that the Egyptians showed imitation stoneware, as seen from pottery vessels dating to the pre-dynastic period. Theis object is large for a bead and it is possible that it was an object intended to symbolise a traditional weapon. However, the function and in fact date remains uncertain. The type of material (faience) is typical of that produced in Meroe (Nubia) during the Roman period, for this reason the object has been dated to this period. The object is complete with little damage to the surface. The material consists of crushed quartz pebbles which are then glazed with a glass-like material.

Measurements and weight

Width: 0.045 m

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1932) by Whyte, Edward Towry

Dating

Roman
Circa 100 CE - Circa 400 CE

Materials used in production

Faïence

Techniques used in production

Mouldmade
Glazed

Identification numbers

Accession number: E.398.1932
Primary reference Number: 53145
Oldadmincategory: FG

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 18 July 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Antiquities

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Glazed bead" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/53145 Accessed: 2025-12-05 18:32:44

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/53145 |title=Glazed bead |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 18:32:44|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-53145

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant32/E_398_1932.jpg"
        alt="Glazed bead"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Glazed bead</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...

University of Cambridge Museums logo
Cambridge City Council logo
Arts Council England Logo
Research England logo