Card/Transcription No.: 403a-3

Headrest: object 403.A                       

Extract from a letter, 2.xi.51, to Mr. D. B. Harden from Prof. W.
E. S. Turner, former head of the Institute of Glass Technology at
Sheffield, concerning the glass headrest, of which Mr. Harden
sent him a photograph.

"... I wrote to the Cairo Museum and after a delay of several
months received from the Chief Keeper a letter in October 1949
giving me the following information in reply to my series of
questions [on the headrest]:
(1) The object is certainly of glass as proved by: (a) the
facture of a break found in its stand, (b) the presence of some
air-bubbles which are one of the most characteristic features of
the ancient glass.
(2) It is made up of two pieces: the upper part and the stand.
(3) In between these two pieces there is a piece of wood on which
the band of embossed gold is fixed. These three pieces are joined
together by means of an adhesive and a wooden peg passing through
hollows inside each of them, as shown in the sketch on which
several dimensions are also mentioned. [Sketch here mentioned
presumably still in Prof. Turner's possession.]
(4) Signs of ancient polishing are clearly visible on many parts
of its surface. Some other areas of the surface, however, do not
show any signs of polishing. From this, it may be concluded that
the two pieces of the headrest had been at first roughly shaped
by moulding and then they were thoroughly fashioned and smoothed
by polishing. From this, it may be concluded that the two pieces