Cowrie Shell Girdle of Sithathoryunet
Description
Girdle, Sithathoryunet. Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret II–Amenemhat III, ca. 1887–1813 B.C. Gold, carnelian, feldspar, pellets of copper-silver alloy. L. 84.3 cm (33 3/16 in.) L. (cowrie) 4.7 cm (1 7/8 in.). From: Tomb of Sithathoryunet (BSA Tomb 8), Chamber E, box 1, Lahun, Fayum Entrance Area, Egypt. Excavation: BSAE excavations 1914. 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 photographed/posed view of an ancient Egyptian-style girdle featuring multiple gold-toned cowrie-shell-shaped plaques connected by a beaded strand of colored small stones or glass.
The image shows a necklace/girdle laid out in an arc on a dark background. Along the main band are several elongated, cowrie-shell-shaped gold-toned elements (oval/almond forms with central ridges or seams), spaced evenly. Between these plaques are small, alternating colored bead groups, appearing in at least two colors (turquoise/blue and red/orange) with additional gold-colored tiny beads. The left and right ends include large gold-toned oval elements and a loop or attachment element, suggesting the girdle can be fastened. No legible hieroglyphic, Greek, Coptic, or Arabic inscriptions are visible on the plaques or beads. Deity or royal names are not apparent in the visible decoration. The object visually matches the catalogued concept of a cowrie-shell girdle: cowrie-like shell motifs connected by small beads.
Cross-references (4)
- Wikidata-Q Q116243797 tier-1
- Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- Inventory-Number 16.1.5 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- MET-Object 545533 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.