Ceiling Fragment Depicting Pigeons in Flight
Description
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III, ca. 1390–1352 B.C. Mud plaster, paint. H. 68.3 cm (26 7/8 in), w. 138 cm (54 5/16 in). From: Ho W1, Malqata, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1911–12. Subject: Pigeons. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1912.
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.
Painted ceiling plaster fragment showing multiple birds with wings outstretched, flying across a curved surface.
The fragment is composed of light-colored plaster with surviving painted decoration in orange-brown and blue-gray tones. The main field depicts a cluster of birds in flight: wings spread in fan-like shapes with striped feather detailing, some birds angled forward while others overlap. The composition suggests a repeating ceiling motif, with the fragment shaped irregularly as it was detached from a larger surface. At the top edge, there are remnants of additional painted bands and circular/rosette-like motifs, but no clearly readable hieroglyphic text or inscriptions are visible. The overall imagery strongly matches the idea of pigeons/birds in flight on a ceiling, though the individual species cannot be confirmed from the fragment alone.
Cross-references (4)
- Wikidata-Q Q116247688 tier-1
- Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- Inventory-Number 12.180.257 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- MET-Object 544505 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
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.