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

Butterfly amulet

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

Description

Amulet, Butterfly. Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12–13, ca. 1981–1640 B.C. Faience, paint. h. 1.9 cm (3/4 in); w. 1.9 cm (3/4 in); d. 0.7 cm (1/4 in). From: Cemetery, debris, Lisht North, Memphite Region, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1915–16. Subject: Butterflies. Credit: Rogers Fund, 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.

Turquoise-blue faience amulet shaped like a cross-like form with projecting arms and a raised central element, shown without legible surface inscriptions.

The object appears to be a small, irregularly shaped turquoise-blue faience piece with darker patches from wear and loss of glaze. It has an overall cross/ankh-like outline: a central vertical form with broader arms extending left and right and a shorter projection at the bottom. A raised ridge/raised feature is visible on the top portion, but it does not clearly resolve into a specific butterfly wing pattern at this resolution. The surface includes scattered darkened areas consistent with abrasions, chips, and possible remnants of painted details; however, no distinct painted motifs or outlines are clearly legible. No hieroglyphic text, cartouche, or Greek/Coptic/Arabic script is visible in the image.

decorative Middle Kingdom (as catalogued) fragmentary
Materials faiencepaint (unclear remnants)

Connections

Found at Lisht
Materials FaiencePaint

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116251819 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 15.3.513 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 544095 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.