Representation of a Queen or Goddess
Description
Object Label: Although both queens and goddesses were often represented in the Ptolemaic Period with elaborate headdresses consisting of a vulture surmounted by cow's horns and a sun disk, the smaller of these two females is clearly labeled as the goddess Isis by a hieroglyph above the orb of the sun. The identity of the woman on the larger fragment is uncertain. Both works feature the style characteristic of Ptolemaic art: fleshy cheeks and especially the bullet-shaped breast and luxuriant belly and thighs on the smaller piece. Although the latter work may have been a sculptor's trial piece, as suggested by the grid pattern on the rectangle at the upper right, the hole at the top indicates that it may have been reused as a temple offering. Caption: Representation of a Queen or Goddess, 305–30 B.C.E.. Sandstone, pigment, 7 5/8 x 7 3/8 x 4 5/16 in. (19.3 x 18.8 x 10.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1488E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
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 roughly carved sandstone fragment with worn painted surfaces showing a column of hieroglyph-like marks and the partial outline of a human figure or statue front, consistent with an abbreviated queen/goddess representation.
The image shows a thick, irregular block of sandstone with extensive weathering and shallow incisions. Faint pigment traces appear to be present on the carved surface. A vertical arrangement of hieroglyphic-like signs is visible on the left/center, and on the right a larger, more figurative element suggests the partial depiction of a human figure (head/upper torso) or a relief figure front, but the specific attributes and details are too worn to identify confidently. No clear royal name cartouche is legible, and no Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible. The overall composition resembles a short inscription adjacent to a figure, but individual signs cannot be reliably read due to abrasion and low contrast.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.1488E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4160 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- 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.