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

Scarab Inscribed with a Hieroglyphic Motif

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

Description

Scarab; Horus, broad collar; notched 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. 1.2 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: Birds, 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 small green-glazed scarab seal inscribed with a central hieroglyphic motif, surrounded by a bordered oval.

The object appears as an oval scarab (dung-beetle form) made of a light green, glossy glazed material. The face is decorated with a thick, dark-outlined border and a central, cross-like vertical and horizontal motif that resembles a hieroglyphic sign set within the oval field. The motif has internal detailing in darker green/teal and blackish lines; additional small strokes appear near the bottom edge within the border. No readable royal cartouche or full name is clearly visible in the provided image. There is no clearly discernible Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text. Overall, the decoration style is consistent with an inscribed scarab featuring a hieroglyphic motif.

hieroglyphic only New Kingdom (catalogue-provided) good
Materials steatite (glazed; light green glaze visible)
Signs Central hieroglyphic motif (cross/ankh-like form with horizontal element; exact sign unclear)
Visible text "Central inscribed hieroglyphic motif within an oval border; exact sign text not clearly legible from the image."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Central inscribed hieroglyphic motif within an oval border; exact sign text not clearly legible from the image.

Connections

Found at Deir el-Bahri
Deities Horus

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116273191 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 27.3.391 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 549758 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.