Colour of amulets

Frequent Colours

  • Green:Regenerative colour, evokes vegetation, life and resurrection mainly faience, barely minerals (feldspar, amazonite, olivine)1
  • Blue:Regenerative colour, evokes the sky and the night, faience or blue minerals (lapis lazuli, rarely turquoise)
  • Black:Less abundant colour, evokes the mud of the Nile, black minerals (hematite, obsidian)

Note
1 Some beryl amulets have been reported. Beryl is easily confused with feldspar. Moreover, beryl was never found
in the richest tombs or treasures, but only in jewelry of the Graeco-Roman Period and latter, see Ref #15 pp. 40-41

 

Rare Colours

  • Yellow: Evoques gold, mainly faience, glass, and gilded amulets, barely minerals
  • Red: Evokes blood, a regenerative or negative colour, mostly red minerals (carnelian, red jasper), barely faience or glass
  • White: Evokes cleanliness and ritual purity or silver, very rare, glass or faience