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

Lintel block from the false door of Mery's chapel

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

Description

Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, ca. 2575–2520 B.C. Limestone. L. 90.2 cm (35 1/2 in.). From: Djoser precinct, north of the Step Pyramid, Saqqara, Memphite Region, Egypt. Subject: Hieroglyphs. Credit: Gift of Mrs. Edmund Lassalle, 1967.

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 rectangular limestone lintel block is shown with incised/painted relief hieroglyphs and parts of a human figure seated between register-like elements.

The object appears as a long, horizontal stone block with a smoothed rectangular outline. The surface is densely covered by carved hieroglyphs and decorative relief. Near the center-left there is a kneeling/seated human figure in profile (details partially worn), accompanied by surrounding hieroglyphic signs. Above and around the figure are additional large, stylized signs and short vertical lines consistent with a false door/chapel lintel layout, though the exact arrangement and full reading are not fully legible due to wear and cropping of some edges. No modern inscriptions or colors are clearly visible beyond the stone surface; the relief lines are shallow to moderate depth. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible.

religious Old Kingdom (per catalogue); precise sub-phase unclear from image alone. fragmentary
Materials limestone
Signs human figure (seated/kneeling attendant or owner representation) multiple incised hieroglyphs (mixed determinatives and phonetic signs) ×20
Visible text "Hieroglyphic signs are present throughout the block, but the image resolution/wear prevents a reliable transcription."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Hieroglyphic signs are present throughout the block, but the image resolution/wear prevents a reliable transcription.

Connections

Found at Saqqara
Materials Limestone

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116276433 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 67.50 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 547737 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.