Welsh Hub

Wesekh Collars

The painted collar on Tasheriankh's coffin case takes up quite a large area so what is it and why is it there?
So during my lockdown studies what did I find out, they are called a wesekh, we often see paintings of the broad necklace worn across the shoulders of ancient Egyptians made up of beads, but these painted funerary collars have rows or registers as I refer to them, of repeated symbols, some easily recognisable others not so.

The painted images and hieroglyphs on an ancient Egyptian coffin are to aid the deceased's transition into the afterlife and for their life in the afterlife. So this must then apply to these painted collars, they have a significance and a function.

So I thought I would search out, study and paint other wesekh collars, this is a collection which I am growing. My aim to bring them to the forefront of the conversation of ancient Egyptian funary images and not have them passed over as just something decorative. Therefore, I am attending at present a course on hieroglyphs with the Egyptian Exploration Society and currently writing my conversation about wesekh collars, the symbols, their representation, significance, and do they have relevance today?

www.melanietpettersenartist.com
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