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

Relief fragment, tomb of Mereri

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

Description

First Intermediate Period, Dynasty 9, ca. 2100–2030 B.C. Limestone. H. 14.1 × W. 41 × D. 4.7 cm (5 9/16 × 16 1/8 × 1 7/8 in.). From: Tomb of Mereri, Behind Temple of Hathor, Dendera, Northern Upper Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Egypt Exploration Fund excavations, 1898. Credit: Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1898.

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.

Weathered limestone relief fragment with a central vertical register and surrounding carved figures/signs, including a seated/standing form on the right and a circular element on the left.

The image shows a horizontally oriented, broken limestone relief fragment. The composition is framed by bordered areas and divided by a prominent central vertical column of signs. On the left portion there is a circular disk-like motif with a cross/asterisk-like center, adjacent to angular, winged/feather-like or zigzag elements. On the right there is a human figure in profile facing left, rendered in low relief, accompanied by additional vertical and horizontal sign fragments and stacked blocks resembling hieroglyphic text. The surface is worn and chipped at the break edges; finer details of the figure’s attributes and the sign forms are partially lost, making exact reading uncertain. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible.

religious First Intermediate Period (catalogue ground truth; specific motifs not fully readable) fragmentary
Materials limestone
Signs circular disk with cross/asterisk-like center (possibly a symbolic element; exact identification unclear) bird/feather-like zigzag motifs along the top border (exact species/word unclear) ×3 human figure profile within a relief register (exact designation unclear) stacked vertical sign blocks along right side (individual signs unclear) ×4
Visible text "Vertical and stacked hieroglyphic sign fragments are present, but the image is too worn/fragmentary to transcribe reliably."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Vertical and stacked hieroglyphic sign fragments are present, but the image is too worn/fragmentary to transcribe reliably.

Connections

Found at Dendera
Materials Limestone
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.