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

Fragment of a mummy label

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. Wood, ink. 2.3 × 6.2 cm (7/8 × 2 7/16 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.

Rectangular fragment of a light-colored wooden mummy label covered with horizontal strokes of ink and a few red-ink traces near one end.

The image shows a thin, rectangular wooden strip broken into a fragment, with the long sides forming a narrow band. One end contains some red pigment traces (possibly ink) arranged in short strokes above the main band. Across most of the fragment are many closely spaced horizontal ink lines, suggesting a written text or numbering on a mummy label. A small circular/oval perforation is visible near the center-right of the fragment. Near the lower right corner are white/gray paint or wax-like marks and/or an ink-like numeral that reads approximately "154" (exact reading uncertain). No clear hieroglyph groups, cartouches, or complete readable text are fully legible at this resolution; only line-filled writing and pigment remnants are discernible.

funerary Roman Period (as catalogued; exact dating of legible content unclear) fragmentary
Materials woodinkred pigment
Signs horizontal line-filled inscription (illegible)
Visible text "Multiple horizontal ink lines; partial red ink at left end; possible numeral near right end looks approximately like "154" (uncertain)."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Multiple horizontal ink lines; partial red ink at left end; possible numeral near right end looks approximately like "154" (uncertain).

Connections

Found at Oxyrhynchus
Materials WoodInkRed Pigment
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.