Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · other

Writing Board

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Late Period, Saite, Dynasty 26, reign of Amasis or later, 570–525 B.C. Wood, ink. H. 34 × W. 22 × Th. 3.8 cm (13 3/8 × 8 11/16 × 1 1/2 in.). Probably from: Edfu, by inscription, Upper Egypt, Egypt. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1911.

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.

Rectangular writing surface inscribed with dense Egyptian hieroglyphs in multiple horizontal lines, shown against a light background.

The image shows a rectangular, irregularly shaped board or panel with worn edges and a tan-to-ochre surface consistent with preserved writing material. The surface is covered by tightly spaced black hieroglyphic signs arranged in several horizontal registers. No figural representations of deities or people are clearly visible—only writing. Individual sign forms and some longer lines are present but the excerpt is too small/unclear to reliably transcribe into a definite readable phrase. There are no visible cartouches or royal titulary elements that can be confidently identified from the photograph. The object condition appears worn and fragmentary at the edges, with flaking or loss along the right side.

hieroglyphic only Late Period / Saite period (as catalogued; inscription-based identification not fully readable here). fragmentary
Materials wood (board/panel; suggested by shape and surface)ink (black hieroglyphs)
Signs Egyptian hieroglyphs (mixed sign list; exact forms not reliably countable from image resolution)

Connections

Found at Edfu
Materials Ink

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116420047 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 11.150.25 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 553112 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • 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.