Cowrie shell bead
Description
bead, cowrie form. Middle Kingdom–Early New Kingdom, Dynasty 12, late–early 13, ca. 1850–1640 B.C. Gold. L. 1.6 cm (5/8 in.); W. 0.9 cm (3/8 in.); Th. 0.5 cm (3/16 in.). From: cemetery south of the tomb of Senwosret (758), Pit 607, Lisht North, Memphite Region, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1907–08. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1909.
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.
Photograph of a small, gold-colored cowrie-shell-shaped bead with a central perforation.
The object is shown in close-up on a light background. It has an elongated, oval cowrie-shell silhouette with ridged/striated surface texture around the edges and a darkened underside where the shell opening would be. A narrow slit/perforation runs through the center, indicating it was made to be strung. The entire bead appears metallic and highly polished, giving a gold-colored appearance. No iconography, figures, or legible hieroglyphic inscriptions are visible, and there are no cartouches or royal names. No other materials (e.g., shell, glass, or stone) are clearly visible beyond the metallic surface.
Cross-references (4)
- Wikidata-Q Q116249906 tier-1
- Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- Inventory-Number 09.180.1200 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- MET-Object 544114 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.