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

Scarab Inscribed King of Upper and Lower Egypt Maatkare, Having Dominion

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

Description

New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, early, Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, ca. 1479–1458 B.C. Steatite (glazed). L. 1.8 ×W. 1.4 cm (11/16 × 9/16 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.

Oval green faience/steatite scarab with an incised, worn inscription across the back and border.

The image shows the back of an Egyptian scarab-like amulet, with an oval outline and a thin raised rim. The surface is turquoise-green and appears glazed, with incised decoration and an inscription-like arrangement of strokes and boxed shapes. A central section includes a rectangular cartouche-like block with internal vertical and curved strokes, alongside adjacent vertical sign forms. The incisions are shallow and partially abraded, making individual hieroglyphs difficult to read precisely. No clearly identifiable deity figure is visible; the visible marks are primarily inscriptional. The object is photographed against a white background; no additional text in Greek/Coptic/Arabic is apparent.

religious New Kingdom (as catalogued); exact ruler name not securely legible from the worn inscription. good
Royals Maatkare (catalogue title); not clearly legible in the image due to wear/abrasion
Materials glazed steatite/faience-like green surface
Signs Cartouche-like rectangular enclosure (partially legible) Vertical hieroglyph sign forms (uncertain; part of inscription) ×3
Visible text "Central rectangular, cartouche-like block with surrounding vertical sign strokes; exact reading unclear/worn."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Central rectangular, cartouche-like block with surrounding vertical sign strokes; exact reading unclear/worn.

Connections

Found at Deir el-Bahri

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116273264 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 27.3.248 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 549730 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.