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

Handle of a Cosmetic Spoon in the Form of a Leopard

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 Amenhotep III, ca. 1390–1352 B.C. Travertine (Egyptian alabaster). l. 12.9 cm (5 1/16 in); w. 3.8 cm (1 1/2 in); th. 1.7 cm (11/16 in). From: Palace of Amenhotep III, Malqata, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1910–11. Subject: Leopards. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1911.

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 carved bone/stone handle shaped as a leaping leopard, with the mouth and forequarters forming a loop-like opening.

The image shows a small, light-colored carved object photographed against a dark background. One end is shaped like the leopard’s head with an open mouth area; the body tapers into a low-relief or rounded section suggesting a crouched/leaping posture. A rectangular/oval opening passes through the upper portion near the head/body, consistent with a functional mounting or attachment point for a cosmetic spoon handle. The carving is smooth and shallow in places, with minimal painted detail visible. No hieroglyphs, cartouches, or other inscriptions are legible. No modern text (Greek/Coptic/Arabic) is visible.

decorative New Kingdom (per catalogue; image alone does not allow independent dating) good
Materials light-colored carved stone (consistent with travertine/“Egyptian alabaster” per catalogue)

Connections

Found at Malqata
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.