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

Torso/Belt of the king with cartouches of the Aten

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

Description

Torso/Belt fragment of Akhenaten, with cartouche. New Kingdom, Amarna Period, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1353–1336 B.C. Indurated limestone. H. 11.5 × W. 12 × D. 12 cm (4 1/2 × 4 3/4 × 4 3/4 in.). From: Great Temple of the Aten, pit outside southern wall, Amarna (Akhetaten), Middle Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Petrie/Carter excavations, 1891–92. Subject: Hieroglyphs. Credit: Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1921.

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 carved limestone torso/belt fragment featuring an outlined band of hieroglyphs enclosed by a cartouche-like oval; details are worn but the central motif includes a seated/recumbent form within an Aten-associated frame.

The object appears to be a fragmentary carved stone belt/torso element. The front shows a horizontal register with a decorative border resembling a cartouche frame; within it are incised hieroglyphic signs that are partly eroded, including a central emblem/figure-like shape flanked by smaller signs. The surrounding field is relatively smooth with chisel-work and losses on edges and corners, consistent with an Amarna-period reuse or belt/insignia fragment. No clear full royal titulary is readable at this resolution. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible. The image does not clearly show modern restoration tools or labels.

religious New Kingdom, Amarna Period (18th Dynasty), likely reign of Akhenaten/Atenite court (as per catalogue) fragmentary
Deities Aten (inferred from catalogue; not clearly readable as a distinct Aten determinative here)
Materials indurated limestone (catalogue material)carved stone surface with chisel-tool marks
Signs cartouche-like oval/frame with incised hieroglyphic signs (exact signs unclear) ×6
Visible text "Incised hieroglyphic band inside a cartouche-like frame; individual signs are not confidently legible in the provided image."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Incised hieroglyphic band inside a cartouche-like frame; individual signs are not confidently legible in the provided image.

Connections

Found at Amarna (Akhetaten)
Deities Aten
Royals Akhenaten

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116273167 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 21.9.582 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 549763 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.