Monday

Unique Gift Ideas: Cartouche Jewelry

Personalized Yellow Gold Cartouche Pendant

Personalized Sterling Silver Cartouche Pendant

Recently I came across a wonderful piece of personalized jewelry that was not only attractive and unique, but intriguing: a cartouche pendant.  A cartouche is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph where a specific set of characters are drawn, then encircled by oval lines.  The encased characters or text represented the name of a member of Egyptian royalty.  Cartouches in the form of amulets were frequently placed with a deceased royal in pyramids because the name, once it was protected within the circle, was believed to safeguard the royal in life as well as in the afterlife.  Egyptian tenet held that if a name was written down and enclosed, the individual would not disappear after death.  Today, cartouches are utilized in personalized jewelry where the hieroglyphics on one side spell out a person’s name, and a translated English version is engraved on the reverse side.  Thankfully, traditional meaning adapts over time.  The modern cartouche is said to bring good luck and protection for the living.