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

Box inlay with a geometric pattern

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

Description

Inlay, from a box. Early Dynastic Period, Dynasty 1, reign of Djer, ca. 3100–2900 B.C. Ivory with black paste inlay. L: 6.2 cm (2 7/16 in.). From: Umm el-Qaab, Tomb of Djer, Abydos, Northern Upper Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Egypt Exploration Fund excavations. Credit: Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1901.

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, rectangular carved and incised panel showing a repeating geometric pattern (interlocking/diamond forms) on a pale surface.

The image shows a narrow rectangular object, likely an inlay strip/panel, photographed against a plain yellow background. The face is covered with a consistent geometric motif: outlines form repeating diamond/chevron-like shapes across the surface. The material appears light-colored (ivory-like) with incised lines; no clearly distinguishable black paste inlay or pigment-filled incisions are visible in this photo. Along the lower right edge there is a small handwritten/ink accession label reading “01.4.94” (or similar), but no Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible. No hieroglyphs or royal cartouches are present, and no deities are identifiable. The reverse/edges are not fully shown, but the object looks carved in relief or incised on a single light slab consistent with a box-inlay element.

decorative Early Dynastic Period (as catalogued); geometric inlay/ornament style consistent but cannot be independently verified from the image alone. good
Materials light-colored carved substance consistent with ivoryincised decorationdark inlay not clearly visible

Connections

Found at Abydos
Materials Incised Decoration

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116276942 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 01.4.94 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 547436 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.