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

Stela of Saiah

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

Description

Third Intermediate Period, late Dynasty 22–23, ca. 825–712 B.C. Wood, paste, paint. H. 23.8 cm (9 3/8 in.). From: Tomb MMA 801, Deir el-Bahri, west of Priests' Cemetery, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1921–22. 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.

Painted Egyptian stela showing multiple figures in front of a central offering/inscription area, beneath an arched register and winged/solar imagery.

The object appears to be a small rectangular panel with an arched top, painted in multiple colors (notably blue-green, red, yellow ochre, and black outlines). A light-colored border frames the scene, with a central large circular form near the top and a horizontal band under the arch that includes rows of small signs or motifs. Below this, two standing figures in colored garments flank a central area containing a cluster of yellow and black blocks that resemble hieroglyphic text. Several figures and gestures are shown: one figure appears to hold or present an item toward the central register; another figure sits or kneels before a low offering surface or chest-like element. At the bottom, a red base line and a low platform are painted. The painted hieroglyphic area is clearly present, but specific sign readings (and any cartouche names) are not confidently legible from this image resolution. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible. Deities are suggested only by Egyptian iconography (e.g., a solar/winged element) but no specific deity identity can be securely confirmed from the image alone.

religious Third Intermediate Period (as catalogued); exact date uncertain from image alone. good
Deities unknown
Royals unknown
Materials paintpaste (surface ground)possibly wood (support not clearly visible)
Signs hieroglyphic signs/inscription blocks (unreadable at this resolution)

Connections

Found at Deir el-Bahri
Materials PaintPaste

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116256472 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 22.3.31 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 550806 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.