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

Astronomical Ceiling

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

Description

Original: New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, ca. 1479–1458 B.C. Tempera on paper. Facsimile: H. 73 × W. 56.5 cm (28 3/4 × 22 1/4 in.); scale approximately 1:5;, Framed: H. 74.6 × W. 58.1 cm (29 3/8 × 22 13/16 in.). Original from: TT 353 (Tomb of Senenmut), hall, Deir el-Bahri, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Subject: Hieroglyphs, Astronomy. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1948.

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.

The image shows a rectangular, framed sheet with dense decorative borders and Egyptian-style figures and hieroglyphic text arranged in two horizontal registers, including star/celestial diagrams with circular “wheel” motifs and a small seated/standing human figure.

The artifact photo depicts a flat, paper-like document bordered by repeating corner ornaments and bands of small symbol-like marks. The upper register contains columns of hieroglyphic signs with small human figures positioned beneath/among the signs. The lower register is more diagrammatic: it includes multiple circular forms arranged in rows (resembling clock/astronomical wheel or star-disc diagrams) and schematic lines/stands, with additional hieroglyphic bands running across the lower portion. Several figures are shown in profile (including a larger animal-like or composite form near the right side). No clearly readable royal cartouche is evident in the resolution provided; any specific deities are not certain because names/signs cannot be confidently read. There is no visible Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text; only Egyptian-style hieroglyphic-like markings appear.

decorative New Kingdom (per catalogue ground truth; exact date uncertain from image alone) good
Materials paper (flat support)ink/painted pigment (tempera-like coloring implied by catalogue)
Signs Egyptian hieroglyph-like signs (text columns and border bands) ×200

Connections

Found at Deir el-Bahri
Materials Paper
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.