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

Ceremonial Implement in the Shape of an Ankh

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

Description

New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Thutmose IV, ca. 1400–1390 B.C. Faience. H. 27.7 × W. 14 × Th. 2 cm (10 7/8 × 5 1/2 × 13/16 in.). From: Tomb of Thutmose IV (KV 43), Valley of the Kings, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: Davis/Carter excavations, 1903. Credit: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915.

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.

Faience ceremonial implement shaped like a large ankh (ankh-cross) with a rounded loop and flared arms.

The image shows a single turquoise-blue object presented upright on a neutral support. The form is clearly an ankh: a looped top creating a teardrop/oval opening, narrowing into a vertical stem, with horizontal arms that flare outward at both sides. Near the junction of the arms and stem, the surface includes incised or molded linear ribbing/striation across the arms. The object appears glazed and slightly worn, with visible surface cracking/chipping consistent with age or handling. No legible hieroglyphs, cartouches, or other inscriptions are visible. No clear figures of deities or royal names appear; the decoration is limited to the ankh shape and ribbed detailing.

decorative New Kingdom (catalogue ground truth; image does not independently confirm date). good
Materials faience/glazed ceramic

Connections

Found at Valley of the Kings
Royals Thutmose IV

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116246332 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 30.8.29 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 544840 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.