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

Magic Wand

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

Description

Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, mid - Dynasty 13, ca. 1900–1640 B.C. Hippopotamus ivory. a): L. 26.9 × W. 4.9 × H. 9.6 × Th. 1.1 cm (10 9/16 × 1 15/16 × 3 3/4 × 7/16 in.); b): L. 4.4 × W. 4 × Th. 0.7 cm (1 3/4 × 1 9/16 × 1/4 in.). From: cemetery south of pyramid below House A1:1, Pit 885, Lisht North, Memphite Region, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1920–21. Subject: Animals. Credit: Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1922.

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.

Photograph of a curved, ivory-like object with painted or incised figures and a band of hieroglyphic-style inscriptions along the inner curve, shown alongside a small detached fragment.

The image shows a long, crescent-shaped object held on a neutral background. Along the inner surface of the curve there are outlines of human and animal figures in profile, including multiple seated or standing figures and at least one larger animal form; above/between them are blocks of incised/painted hieroglyph-like signs forming a continuous decorative register. Near the right side, a small separate fragment of similar material with part of the same iconography/signs appears detached. No clear cartouches are visible at this resolution, and no Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is apparent. The surface appears pale with darker linework, consistent with decorated ivory, matching the catalogued material description of hippopotamus ivory for a Middle Kingdom “Magic Wand.”

decorative Middle Kingdom (as catalogued); exact dynasty unclear from the image alone. fragmentary
Materials pale ivory-like substrate (hippopotamus ivory as catalogued)pigment/ink or incision lines (dark outlines)
Signs hieroglyph-like groups in continuous band (exact signs unclear) ×20
Visible text "Inscription is present as hieroglyph-like sign blocks in the decorative band, but no legible exact excerpt can be reliably transcribed from the image resolution."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Inscription is present as hieroglyph-like sign blocks in the decorative band, but no legible exact excerpt can be reliably transcribed from the image resolution.

Connections

Found at Lisht
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.