Wall Tile from a Royal Funerary Structure
Description
Object Label: Blue-green glazed rectangular tiles like these once decorated the walls of subterranean rooms beneath King Djoser’s Step Pyramid. As the first example of monumental stone architecture in Egypt, Djoser’s funerary complex was meant to provide the king’s spirit with an abode for eternity. The tiles imitated the hangings of reeds lashed together by horizontal cords that decorated palace walls during this king’s lifetime. Caption: Wall Tile from a Royal Funerary Structure, ca. 2675–2625 B.C.E.. Faience, 2 5/16 × 1 3/8 × 9/16 in. (5.8 × 3.5 × 1.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 34.1180d.
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 shows four views of a small rectangular stone/tile fragment with a weathered gray surface; no clear decorative figures or text are visible.
The image presents four photographic angles (top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right) of a single object that appears as a rectangular wall tile fragment with rounded/irregular edges. The surface is matte and heavily worn, with light scuffs and darker stains; any molded or inscribed decoration is not clearly discernible in these views. No legible hieroglyphs, cartouches, deities, or color/glaze details can be confidently identified from the provided image resolution and contrast. The object looks more like a worn ceramic/stone tile than an intact faience panel, but the image does not provide enough evidence to confirm or refute the catalogue material assignment.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 34.1180d tier-2
- BKM-Object 3339 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- 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.