Fragments of Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
Description
Object Label: This papyrus was most likely a mathematical reference textbook for the use of scribes. These fragments became separated from the main papyrus when the roll was broken into two parts, probably at the time of its discovery in the mid-nineteenth century. The fragments seen in the upper register, and those few on the right, are from the end of a section that dealt with the simplification of fractions. The fragments in the five lower registers on the left come from the beginning of the section that demonstrated the equitable division of one, two, six, seven, eight, and nine loaves of bread among ten men. Caption: Fragments of Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, ca. 1493–1481 B.C.E.. Papyrus, ink, Largest Fragment: 6 5/16 x 3 3/8 in. (16 x 8.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1784Ea-b. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
Fragments of an ancient Egyptian papyrus with black and red hieratic script.
The image depicts several fragments of papyrus paper displaying hieratic script in black and red ink. The script is written in a flowing, cursive style, typical for documents prepared by scribes for administrative or literary purposes. The fragments are set against a plain background, emphasizing their fragile condition and historical importance. Notable features include the red ink used for titles or keywords, enhancing the document's visual hierarchy.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.1784Ea-b tier-2
- BKM-Object 118304 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- 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.