MODERN FORGERY - RTV - collected 9/9/2022

A POLYCHROME GLASS TILAPIA (BOLTI FISH) PENDANT
Egypt, 9th - 12th century

Designed in the shape of a tilapia, or bolti fish, common in the Nile Valley since ancient times and recognisable by its dorsal fin (now missing), the core-built body made of black or dark purple glass with a matt finish and decorated with simple festoons of white and yellow lines, the eyes made of white opaque circles with black pupils, the body pierced all the way through to the tail, 7cm x 3.1cm.

A number of polychrome glass vessels in the shape of fishes, especially tilapias, have been unearthed during archaeological excavations in the area of El-Amarna in Egypt. The best-preserved example is now part of the British Museum collection in London (inv. no. EA55193). Most of these vessels have been attributed to the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. It is plausible to believe that through the centuries and despite the changes in religious belief, the ancient symbolism of the fish remained well-rooted in the artistic repertoire of Egyptian artists, who kept on reproducing it in a number of media even in the Islamic Fatimid and Mamluk periods.