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Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian) · jewelry

Bead with Name of King Amenemhat

Source of record: Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Carved from carnelian, this spherical bead is incised with a cartouche, a protective ring that encircled a king’s name in ancient Egyptian writing. The small hieroglyphs written from right to left inside this cartouche read “Amenemhat,” a name that means “[the god] Amun is in front.” Many ancient Egyptians had multipart names that incorporated a god or goddess’s name, sometimes indicating a personal affinity with them. This bead names one of four kings who bore the name Amenemhat during Egypt’s 12th Dynasty (about 1985–1773 BCE). It has a gold cap at the top and bottom along with a suspension loop so that it can be strung and worn as part of a necklace or other jewelry.

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 small spherical bead with a pierced loop suspension, featuring a red (carnelian) core enclosed by gold-toned caps and a gold-colored rim.

The object appears as a single, rounded bead with a central red/orange translucent material. A gold-toned cap covers the upper portion and a matching gold-toned cap forms the lower portion, with a narrow gold band separating the red section from the metal caps. A suspension loop is attached to the top cap via a small ring, allowing the bead to be strung. No readable hieroglyphs, cartouches, or inscriptions are visible in the image despite the cataloged identification as a bead with the name of King Amenemhat.

decorative Middle Kingdom / 12th Dynasty (Amenemhat associated), or similar (exact period unclear from image only) good
Royals Amenemhat (catalogued)
Materials gold-toned metalred/orange translucent stone (likely carnelian)

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1

English description

Amenemhat

Connections

Deities Amun
Royals Amenemhat
Materials Gold-Toned Metal

Cross-references (1)

  • ARTIC-id 592 tier-2

Similar inscriptions · by content embedding

About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian).
  • 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.