Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · vessel

Ointment jar and cover

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Middle Kingdom, late Dynasty 12–early Dynasty 13, ca. 1878–1749 B.C. Anhydrite. H. 8.4 cm (3 5/16 in.); Diam. 6.3 cm (2 1/2 in.). From: Cemetery V, Tomb V21, Abydos, Northern Upper Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Egypt Exploration Fund excavations, 1904. Credit: Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1904.

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

A small anhydrite jar with a rounded, flat rim; the object appears to be a container vessel with no clearly visible inscriptions on the photographed surface.

The image shows a single upright ceramic-stone vessel-like object photographed against a neutral gray background. The vessel has a tapered, slightly flaring shape from a narrow lower body to a wider opening. The top rim is rounded and appears to have a slightly different tone, consistent with a cover or rim edge; however, no separate cover piece is clearly visible in this particular image. The surface is smooth-to-slightly weathered with minor chips and wear, and there are no legible hieroglyphs or other text marks on the visible face. No carved iconography or deity attributes are observable from this angle. The material surface looks like worked stone rather than painted ceramics; the catalogued material (anhydrite) is plausible based on the gray, mineral-like appearance, though the photo alone cannot conclusively verify the specific stone type.

unclear Middle Kingdom (per catalogue; visually undiagnostic from photo) good
Materials stone (anhydrite per catalogue)

Connections

Found at Abydos

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116252171 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 04.18.48a, b tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 543967 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.