"Nub" sign inlay
Description
Third Intermediate Period–Late Period, Dynasty 21–30, ca. 1070–343 B.C. Black stone. L. 3.1 × W. 1.5 × Th. 0.5 cm (1 1/4 × 9/16 × 3/16 in.). From: Unfinished Temple Site, Southern Asasif, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1920–22. Credit: Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1922.
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 dark-stone piece with a carved or inlaid hieroglyphic form resembling an “Nub” (gold/wealth) sign: a broad arch-like element with two downward lobes/ends at the bottom.
The object is shown against a light background, photographed straight-on. It appears to be a small, horizontally oriented, rectangular block of dark stone with rounded corners. Across the top surface there are shallow, parallel incised bands. The main carved element occupies the center: a semicircular/arched shape that opens downward, attached to two vertical side elements that curve slightly and end at the bottom. At the lowest point there is a central downward feature with two rounded lobes, consistent with a stylized hieroglyphic sign rather than a figurative scene. No human figures, animals, or deities are visible. No cartouches or royal titulary are apparent. No separate metal/colored inlay is clearly visible in this image; the surface reads as uniformly dark stone with incised/relief detailing. No additional Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is present.
Inscriptions (1)
Visible text (machine reading)
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.