Home › Browse › MET › Object 287
Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · other

Leopard-Head Girdle of Sithathoryunet

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

Description

Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret II–Amenemhat III, ca. 1887–1813 B.C. Gold, amethyst, diorite pellets (inside). circumference of girdle: 81 cm (31 7/8 in.) large leopard heads: 4.5 x 1.2 cm (1 3/4 x 1/2 in.) small leopard heads: 1.6 cm (5/8 in.) Diam (amethyst beads): 0.9 cm (3/8 in.). From: Tomb of Sithathoryunet (BSA Tomb 8), Chamber E, box 1, Lahun, Fayum Entrance Area, Egypt. Excavation: BSAE excavations 1914. Subject: Leopards. Credit: Purchase, Rogers Fund and Henry Walters Gift, 1916.

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 gold beaded girdle featuring multiple leopard-head shaped terminals/beads and a repeating pattern of dark purple amethyst-like beads.

The image shows a banded/necklace-like girdle laid horizontally on a neutral background. The design includes several pairs of gold leopard-head motifs (rounded, feline head forms) spaced along the band and interlinked by small, dark purple beads arranged in repeating segments. Small gold elements appear between clusters of purple beads, suggesting decorative spacers. No cartouches or legible hieroglyphic inscriptions are visible on the band in this view. The catalogue claim of amethyst and gold is visually consistent with the appearance of the dark purple bead material and gold-colored components. Diorite pellets inside are not directly visible in the image.

decorative Middle Kingdom (ground-truth from catalogue) good
Deities Leopard (protective/feline symbolism; specific deity not identifiable from the image)
Materials gold (gold-colored mounts/beads)amethyst-like dark purple beads

Connections

Found at Lahun

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116251875 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 16.1.6 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 544080 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.