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

Chest (?) fragment with Aten cartouche

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

Description

Body fragment (?), cartouche of Aten. New Kingdom, Amarna Period, Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1353–1336 B.C. Eroded and light limestone. H. 10.5 x W. 10.5 x Th. 5.5; cartouche width 2.6 cm. From: Great Temple of the Aten, pit outside southern wall, Amarna (Akhetaten), Middle Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Petrie/Carter excavations, 1891–92. 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.

Fragment of a carved limestone object bearing part of an Aten-associated name within a cartouche-like frame.

The image shows a roughly triangular/irregular fragment of light-colored limestone with extensive erosion and chipping. In the lower left and center there are shallow, incised relief elements resembling hieroglyphic signs and part of a cartouche-like enclosure. The interior includes a large vertically oriented stroke with surrounding small signs, while the cartouche boundary is suggested but not fully preserved. The overall surface is worn, making precise sign identification uncertain. No clearly legible Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible. No obvious figurative depiction is preserved; the carving appears primarily textual/symbolic, consistent with a cartouche/name inscription. The object appears to be a fragment rather than a complete container or chest.

unclear New Kingdom, Amarna Period (as catalogued) fragmentary
Deities Aten (partially implied by cartouche context; specific signs not fully legible)
Royals unknown (Aten cartouche fragment; no complete royal cartouche preserved)
Materials eroded light limestone
Signs cartouche/enclosure (partial) Aten-related hieroglyphic signs (partial, not fully legible)
Visible text "Partial hieroglyphic/carouche-like inscription; specific signs not fully legible due to erosion."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Partial hieroglyphic/carouche-like inscription; specific signs not fully legible due to erosion.

Connections

Found at Amarna (Akhetaten)
Deities Aten
Materials Eroded Light Limestone

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116273162 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 21.9.492 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 549766 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.