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

Scarab Inscribed for the God's Wife Hatshepsut

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

Description

Scarab; Hatshepsut, God's Wife; simple back. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, early, Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, ca. 1479–1458 B.C. Steatite (glazed). L. 1.8 cm (11/16 in); w. 1.3 cm (1/2 in); h. 0.8 cm (5/16 in). From: Temple of Hatshepsut, Foundation Deposit 9 (I), Deir el-Bahri, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1926–27. Subject: Hieroglyphs, Scarabs. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1927.

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 green-glazed steatite scarab seal with an incised design filled with dark linework on its oval back.

The image shows the back (dorsal) of a small oval scarab-shaped object. The surface is predominantly green with a glazed finish, and the central field is bordered by a rounded oval frame. Inside the frame there are multiple rows of dark, incised motifs that read visually like hieroglyphic signs (rather than a purely anatomical scarab design), including blocky rectangular and vertical strokes as well as wedge/triangular elements. No clear cartouche or fully legible royal name is visible at this resolution. There is no visible Greek/Coptic/Arabic text. The object edges show slight wear and uneven glaze, but the incised lines remain visible.

hieroglyphic only New Kingdom (as catalogued) good
Deities unknown
Royals unknown
Materials steatite (glazed)
Signs Incised hieroglyphic signs (exact reading unclear) ×8
Visible text "Unclear: multiple incised hieroglyphic signs within an oval frame; no legible royal name confirmed from this image."

Connections

Found at Deir el-Bahri
Royals Hatshepsut
Materials Steatite

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116273362 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 27.3.176 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 549706 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.