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

Scarab of Sebekhotep IV

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

Description

Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 13, reign of Sebekhotep IV, ca. 1731–1719 B.C. Steatite. L. 2.1 × W. 1.4 × H. 1 cm (13/16 × 9/16 × 3/8 in.). From: Cemetery, debris, Lisht North, Memphite Region, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1920–22. Subject: Hieroglyphs, Scarabs. Credit: Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1922.

The same text in other collections

Linked by shared inventory number (MET-Object 544393). Each record below describes this same artifact or text from a different angle.

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.

A small, oval scarab-shaped Egyptian amuletic seal engraved with a figure or hieroglyphic design in low relief on the top.

The object is an oval, scarab/scaraboid amulet with a rounded back and a flat(er) underside (not fully visible). The face shows dense low-relief carving resembling hieroglyphic signs and/or a stylized royal name: a prominent central vertical register of stacked signs with adjacent smaller signs on either side. No clear cartouche outline is visible in this image, but multiple sign-like forms are carved across the surface. The surfaces appear worn, with abrasions and encrustation/soil staining that obscure fine details. No legs or wing cases typical of some beetle scarabs are clearly discernible from the given angle, suggesting the engraving is focused on the face rather than the full beetle morphology. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible.

unclear Middle Kingdom (as catalogued; inscription details too unclear for finer dating) fragmentary
Materials stone (likely steatite as catalogued)
Signs unknown stacked hieroglyphic signs (possibly belonging to a royal/protective formula; exact identification unclear) ×8
Visible text "Multiple worn hieroglyph-like signs arranged in a central vertical group; exact reading unclear and cannot be transcribed from this image."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Multiple worn hieroglyph-like signs arranged in a central vertical group; exact reading unclear and cannot be transcribed from this image.

Connections

Found at Lisht

Cross-references (5)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116247895 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 22.1.423 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 544393 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • PNM-Object pnm:83895623 tier-2 (inventory-match)
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.