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

Tile with a head of a Mesopotamian captive from the palace of Ramesses II

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

Description

New Kingdom, Ramesside, Dynasty 19, reign of Ramesses II, ca. 1279–1213 B.C. Faience. H. 12.5 × W. 10 × D. 2 cm (4 15/16 × 3 15/16 × 13/16 in.). From: Palace of Ramesses II, Qantir (Piramesse), Eastern Delta, Egypt. Credit: Purchase, Rogers Fund, Edward S. Harkness Gift and by exchange, 1922, 1929, 1935.

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 broken, roughly rectangular/triangular fragment of an ancient Egyptian relief tile showing the face/head of a captive, with incised or molded features and a textured surface suggesting hair/covering.

The object is a small fragment with an uneven break on multiple sides, preserving a portion of a human head. The face area on the left is mostly light-colored with some dark patches; the nose and mouth outlines are faintly indicated. The right side preserves a darker, textured surface with what appears to be patterned lines resembling hair, a cap, or a netted/corded covering across the top. The upper portion shows a repeating diagonal/diamond-like texture consistent with carved/molded detail. No clear hieroglyphs, cartouches, or inscriptions are visible on the preserved surfaces. There is no visible painted decoration; the visible surfaces appear stone-like/ceramic with loss of surface glaze.

decorative New Kingdom, Ramesside period (as per catalogue); exact date unclear from the image alone. fragmentary
Materials unclear mineral/ceramic body (faience not clearly confirmed due to loss and lack of visible glaze)

Connections

Royals Ramesses II
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.