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

Upper right arm possibly with Aten cartouches

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

Description

Upper right arm possibly, Aten cartouches. New Kingdom, Amarna Period, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1353–1336 B.C. Diorite. H. 11.9 × W. 8.2 × D. 4.1 cm (4 11/16 × 3 1/4 × 1 5/8 in.); cartouche: W. 1.8 cm (11/16 in.). From: Amarna (Akhetaten), Middle Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Petrie/Carter excavations, 1891–92. Credit: Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1921.

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 small diorite sculptural fragment shaped like an upper arm, incised on the visible face with part of a column of hieroglyphs resembling a royal titulary/cartouche form.

The image shows a roughly triangular/rounded diorite fragment representing an upper right arm (or arm element) with a carved background surface. On the left edge/face there is a vertically oriented incised sign composition: a cartouche-like oval form appears at the upper part with additional stacked signs below it. The carved area is worn but preserves clear outlines consistent with hieroglyphs. No clearly identifiable deity iconography (e.g., Aten sun-disc rays, gods’ figures) is visible; the main legible feature is the hieroglyphic inscription-like column. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is present. No explicit royal name is fully legible enough to safely transcribe; only the presence of cartouche-like/royal titulary structure is suggestive.

royal New Kingdom, Amarna Period (as catalogued) fragmentary
Materials diorite (stone)
Signs Cartouche/oval enclosure (part of royal titulary) Stacked hieroglyphs (titulary column, not fully legible) ×3
Visible text "Part of a hieroglyphic inscription within a cartouche-like oval; remaining stacked signs are not clearly legible in this image."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Part of a hieroglyphic inscription within a cartouche-like oval; remaining stacked signs are not clearly legible in this image.

Connections

Deities Aten
Materials Diorite

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116272818 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 21.9.450 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 550053 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.