Hepy, String of periwinkle shells
Description
Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, early-mid, ca. 1950–1885 B.C. Shell (Marine), Nacre, Pearl. l. 68 cm (26 3/4 in). From: tomb west of the tomb of Senwosretankh, Pit 3, Burial of Hepy, scattered in front of blocking wall, Lisht South, Memphite Region, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1933–34. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1934.
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.
The image shows a circular string/strand made of small, light-colored shell-like beads arranged into a necklace or garland loop.
A single continuous strand forms an oval loop with two visible rows of beads: one row higher in the image and a second row descending and returning to meet at the ends. The elements are small, rounded, and irregularly faceted like cut shell beads; individual beads vary slightly in size and shape and include areas of light cream/white with possible faint speckling. No fastening hardware, suspension points, or central motifs are clearly visible; the ends of the strand are visible as the beads continue around the loop. The photograph background is plain and there are no visible hieroglyphic texts, cartouches, or other markings on the strand surface that can be reliably read.
Cross-references (4)
- Wikidata-Q Q116281276 tier-1
- Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- Inventory-Number 34.1.143 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- MET-Object 546446 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.