Set of Gaming Pieces
Description
Object Label: The game of senet reflects the belief that the deceased encountered demons on the road to the underworld who blocked gateways. The Egyptian word senet means “passing,” a reference to avoiding the demons when passing through the gateways. The game board represents the zones through which the deceased had to travel to reach the place of judgment. A New Kingdom text suggests the game was played between the deceased and an unnamed opponent, the stakes being the deceased’s continued existence. But there is also evidence that senet was popular among the living. Caption: Set of Gaming Pieces, ca. 1539–1295 B.C.E.. Faience, 37.94.1E: 11/16 × Diam. 1/2 in. (1.7 × 1.2 cm) 37.94.2E: 1/2 × Diam. 1/2 in. (1.3 × 1.2 cm) 37.94.3E: 7/8 × Diam. 9/16 in. (2.3 × 1.5 cm) 37.94.4E: 13/16 × Diam. 1/2 in. (2 × 1.3 cm) 37.94.5E: 3/4 × Diam. 1/2 in. (1.9 × 1.2 cm) 37.94.6E: 7/8 × Diam. 9/16 in. (2.2 × 1.5 cm) 37.94.7E: 13/16 × Diam. 1/2 in. (2 × 1.2 cm) 37.94.8E: 13/16 × Diam.. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.94E.1-.23. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A senet game board with playing pieces, typical of ancient Egyptian cultural artifacts.
The image depicts a senet game board, which is an ancient Egyptian board game. The board is made of wood with a grid pattern, and there are numerous faience playing pieces in shades of blue and green with red markings. The style and composition suggest it was used for entertainment or ritualistic purposes. The craftsmanship of the board and pieces is indicative of the skilled artisans of the time.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.94E.1-.23 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3961 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- 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.