"Marriage Scarab" of Amunhotep III and Queen Tiye
Description
Object Label: In the first eleven years of his reign, Amunhotep III issued more than two hundred large scarabs (beetle-shaped amulets) inscribed with descriptions of important events, such as a wild-cattle hunt or the building of an artificial lake. Of these commemorative scarabs, fifty-six list the king’s complete titles, the boundaries of the empire, and Queen Tiye’s title and parents’ names. This formal statement of Tiye’s lineage and her official link to Amunhotep III have led most Egyptologists to call these objects “marriage scarabs” even though they do not mention the royal union. Caption: "Marriage Scarab" of Amunhotep III and Queen Tiye, ca. 1390–1353 B.C.E.. Faience, 1 1/8 x 1 15/16 x 2 3/4 in. (2.8 x 5 x 7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.475E. (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.
A blue faience scarab artifact.
The artifact is a blue faience scarab, typical of amulets used in ancient Egyptian culture. It features a detailed depiction of a scarab beetle, crafted with a smooth, glossy finish indicative of faience work. The artifact's design suggests it was likely intended for decorative or symbolic purposes, commonly associated with rebirth and protection.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.475E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4041 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.