Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art · jewelry

Ring with Protective Inscription

Source of record: Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Object Label: Late Period rings often bore texts invoking divine protection for their owners, both living and dead. This ring's inscription calls for "the goddess" of Heliopolis to protect Nakhthorheb, a priest of that city. Traces of sheet copper in the hieroglyphs reveal that they were overlaid with that reddish metal to enhance their visibility and appearance. Caption: Ring with Protective Inscription, ca. 664–342 B.C.E.. Gold with copper overlays, 13/16 in. (2.1 cm) Bezel: 3/8 x 5/8 in. (1 x 1.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 58.96. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06

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

Gold ring with engraved hieroglyphics likely depicting a royal cartouche.

The artifact is a gold ring prominently featuring a cartouche with engraved hieroglyphics, which are indicative of the name of a pharaoh. The hieroglyphs are intricately carved and show standard signs such as a reed, horned viper, and a seated figure, along with others possibly used to denote royalty. The presence of a falcon suggests possible divine or protective associations.

royal New Kingdom good
Royals unknown
Materials gold
Signs reed horned viper seated man

Connections

Found at Heliopolis
Materials Gold

Cross-references (2)

  • BKM-Accession 58.96 tier-2
  • BKM-Object 3659 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.