The Hedjet crown, also known as the ‘White Crown’, was the crown of Upper Egypt. After the unification of Upper and lower Egypt, it was combined with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, the Deshret, to form the double crown, or Pschent. The crown was conical in shape and was comprised of a cylindrical headpiece with a tapering point. As with the Deshret, no example of the Hedjet crown has been discovered, meaning that its material and how it was constructed remain unknown. Cloth, felt or leather have been suggested as potential materials for the crown. It is also possible that, similar to the Deshret, the Hedjet may have been woven from grass, straw, flax, palm leaf, or reed. The crown was worn by the Pharaoh of Upper Egypt and was closely associated with Osiris, who is often depicted wearing a Atef crown, which combined the Hedjet with ostrich feathers, and the goddess Nekhbet, the patron of Upper Egypt.
Techniques of bronze casting, which originated in Mesopotamia and Bronze Age cultures such as the Sumer civilisation, soon reached Egypt with the widening of trade networks. It immediately had a significant impact on Egyptian artistic traditions, including sculpture and jewellery. The materiality of bronze made it well suited to these disciplines, as the metal could be easily manipulated to create precise detail, as well as melted down and reused if needed. The best of Egyptian bronzes are often considered to originate from between the Third Intermediate Period and the Late Period. After this point, fine craftsmanship began to make way for more mass produced sculptures.
