Pectorals of gold _cloisonne_ work inlaid with vitreous paste or precious stones, and which bear the cartouches of Amenemhat II., Usertesen II., and Usertesen III.

(fig.

297), exhibit a marvellous precision of taste, lightness of touch, and dexterity of fine workmanship.

So fresh and delicate are they we forget that the royal ladies to whom they belonged have been dead, and their bodies stiffened and disfigured into mummies, for nearly five thousand years.

At Berlin may be seen the _parure_ of an Ethiopian Candace; at the Louvre we have the jewels of Prince Psar; at Gizeh are preserved the ornaments of Queen Aahhotep.
Aahhotep was the wife of Kames, a king of the Seventeenth Dynasty, and she was probably the mother of Ahmes I., first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Her mummy had been stolen by one of the robber bands which infested the Theban necropolis towards the close of the Twentieth Dynasty.