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

Pen

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

Description

Roman Period, 30 B.C.–A.D. 364. Reed. L. 7.7 cm (3 1/16 in.). From: Oxyrhynchus (Bahnasa), Middle Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: EEF excavations 1904–05. Credit: Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1905.

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.

The image shows a small, conical pointed implement made of reed, consistent in appearance with a writing tool described as a pen.

A single reed object is photographed on a light background. One end is clearly pointed to a narrow tip, while the opposite end is more blunt and cut. Near the tip, a small area of reddish pigment/ink-like staining is visible, suggesting it may have been used to mark or write. No carved or painted hieroglyphs, cartouches, or other inscriptions are clearly visible on the visible surfaces. There are no figures or iconography indicating deities or royal ownership.

daily life Roman Period (per catalogue; exact date from image unclear) good
Materials reed

Connections

Found at Oxyrhynchus
Materials Reed
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.