Cartouche

[mistress_elaine]

So nondescript even cosmiccircus will be hard-pressed to say anything about it, but somehow I like it...

Comments

[anonymous]

It says:

Once when I was young and true
Someone left me sad
Broke my brittle heart in two
and that is very bad

Love is for unlucky folk
Love is but a curse
Once there was a heart I broke
and that I think is worse

[mistress_elaine]

So you're telling me the ancient Egyptians read Dorothy Parker? Fascinating. I never knew that. :-)

[mitzimaybe]

I don't think it's nonedescript; I like it.

I don't have a clue what it says, but one of my lj friends might. OK if I pimp you on my journal?

[mistress_elaine]

Cheers. :-) I like it, too, but I do know it's hard to say anything about a picture like this. There's little that stands out in it.

Go on, pimp away. I'm curious! :-)

[mortsleam]

It says:

"A bird in the hand is worth two i--"

Ah, forget it.

[mistress_elaine]

Heh. Nice try. :-)

[sphinxmuse]

This cartouche reads from right to left roughly K-l-a-o-p-d-r-a (the small half-circle and egg shape to the far left indicate that it is the name of a female), and it belongs to one of the Cleopatras of the Ptolemy dynasty (the famous Cleopatra was actually Cleopatra VII, if I recall correctly).

Cleopatra's cartouche was actually one of the key ones used by Champollion on the Rosetta Stone to decipher hieroglyphs.

[mistress_elaine]

Cool! Yes, of course it had to be Cleopatra's cartouche I chose. Whom else could I have picked? Well, I suppose Hatshepsut would have been appropriate, but I'll settle for a Cleopatra cartouche. :-)

Anyhow, thanks very much for your translation (or perhaps I should say transliteration) and historical background, Desirée. I appreciate your help a lot!

One day I'm going to learn hieroglyphs myself.

[shizunde]

*nods*

(i half remember something like it was a proper name)

appart from that, it's very neat, the tones are wonderful(ly chosen?)

^____^

[mistress_elaine]

Yes, cartouches contain names of gods and pharaohs. I knew that much myself, but it was the actual name I was looking for. And as I told sphinxmuse, I was pleasantly surprised that it was a Cleopatra, possibly even the Cleopatra...

The tone was indeed chosen. The picture itself was a lot greyer; I added a yellow tone to brighten it up a bit. On the one hand, I like the smoothness of the stone; on the other hand, I would have liked a bit more texture. But I guess one can't have one's cake and eat it...

[shizunde]

i've read the explanation by sphinxmuse. i was surprised to learn it was indeed a name .

i love the smoothness of the stone. specially the bit on the right of the 1st birdy. there's those cracks for texture, but the neatness of the stone + the colour is very good.