Kohl Tube Inscribed for Amunhotep III and Queen Tiye
Description
Object Label: Shaped like a slender reed flute, this tube once contained eye paint called kohl that would have been applied with a wooden or faience stick. Its form may refer to Hathor, a goddess associated with both reeds and music. One of several examples inscribed with the names of the king and queen, this tube was probably a royal possession or a gift to a loyal courtier. Caption: Kohl Tube Inscribed for Amunhotep III and Queen Tiye, ca. 1390–1353 B.C.E.. Faience, 7/8 × 5 5/16 in. (2.2 × 13.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.598E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
The same text in other collections
Linked by shared inventory number
(BKM-Object 4051).
Each record below describes this same artifact or text from a different angle.
- Brooklyn 37.598E PNM text
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 vertically oriented faience tube-like object with a recessed band containing dark-painted hieroglyphic signs and decorative borders on the surface.
The image shows a narrow, rectangular-to-elongated tube with squared corners and a slightly flared, rounded end at the bottom. The sides are decorated with a thick, bordered rectangular frame. Within the framed recess are multiple stacked hieroglyphic signs in dark ink/paint, arranged vertically. The top portion has a band of short, repeated marks forming a decorative pattern. The bottom end has a thicker rim with some chipping and wear; the object’s surface is dark overall with lighter outlines around the painted signs. No clear figural deity scenes are visible—only hieroglyphic ornamentation. The catalogue title specifies that the object is a kohl tube inscribed for Amunhotep III and Queen Tiye; however, the individual royal names/cartouches are not legible enough in this low-resolution image to confirm Amunhotep III or Tiye specifically.
Connections
Cross-references (3)
- BKM-Accession 37.598E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4051 tier-2
- PNM-Object pnm:83913775 tier-2 (inventory-match)
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.