Figured Ostracon with Head of Akhenaten New Kingdom, Amarna PeriodTell el-Amarna, Egypt
Description
Object Label: Art of the Amarna period is characterized by a distinctive exaggeration and elongation of facial features and limbs. Artists learning the style sketched elements of scenes as well as larger compositions on flakes of limestone or potsherds, known as ostraca. Because sketches were typically discarded soon after they were finished, artists preferred to sketch on the readily available ostraca, rather than on expensive papyrus. The ostracon displayed here represents Akhenaten and a fist holding a horse’s reigns. Some scholars have interpreted it as a study for a scene of Akhenaten on a chariot. Others see it as a caricature, due to Akhenaten’s exaggerated features. Caption: Figured Ostracon with Head of Akhenaten, ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E.. Limestone, pigment, 4 11/16 x 5 5/8 x 1 in. (11.9 x 14.3 x 2.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 36.876. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
A machine reading of the photograph made Jul 2026: deities, names, signs and a description as the model saw them. Not curatorial; treat it as the model's best reading, not authority.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 36.876 tier-2
- BKM-Object 46928 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.