Feeding Calves
Description
Object Label: One of the most unusual scenes of daily life from el Amarna, this block depicts a herdsman thrusting his hand down the throat of a tethered cow. He may be force-feeding the animal or helping it digest its food. Above the cow we can see traces of three more animals and, at the far left, part of a much larger bovine, perhaps the mother cow. Caption: Feeding Calves, ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E.. Limestone, pigment, 9 1/16 x 21 1/4 in. (23 x 54 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 60.197.4. (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.
Stone relief fragment depicting a kneeling male figure offering or feeding an animal (likely a calf) in a painted scene.
The image shows a rectangular limestone relief fragment with eroded edges and visible surface weathering. On the left, a human figure is shown in profile wearing a close-fitting garment and a wig/lock of hair; the figure is seated or kneeling and holds a long, narrow object (possibly a bundle or implement) toward an adjacent animal shape. The central/right area includes the animal’s head and upper body in low relief, facing toward the figure. Traces of red/orange pigment and discoloration are visible on the background and on parts of the figures, consistent with a painted relief. No clearly legible hieroglyphic lines are visible in the provided image, and there are no discernible cartouches or royal names. No modern inscriptions or Greek/Coptic/Arabic text are apparent.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 60.197.4 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3697 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.