These faience mummy beads once rested as panels of netting atop the bandages of an Egyptian mummy. The composition used three kinds of beads: long green tubes, long brown tubes, and small rings, which were arranged to produce a diamond pattern, alternating zones of coloured diamonds. A large faience scarab, the paramount amulet for the protection of mummies, would have been attached to the panel. Andrews (1984:27) explains that..."from the Twenty Fifth Dynasty until the Roman Period, many mummies had an outer covering of a network of blue glazed composition beads or even a complete multicoloured beadwork shroud which almost looks knitted. Poorer clients had an imitation net painted on the outermost layer of their bandages. Some mummies wore an actual net made of knotted string."