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

Sacred animal mummy containing small ibises

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

Description

Mummy, Ibis. Late Period–Roman Period, ca. 400 B.C.–100 A.D. Dyed and undyed linen, animal remains, mummification materials. L. 15.5 × W. 11.5 × H. 7 cm (6 1/8 × 4 1/2 × 2 3/4 in.). From: Ibis Cemetery, Abydos, Northern Upper Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Egypt Exploration Fund excavations, 1912–13. Subject: Birds, Mummies. Credit: Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1913.

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 cylindrical, tightly wrapped mummy package covered with patterned linen strips, with a band of dark-painted markings resembling hieroglyphic motifs along the side.

The image shows a small, barrel-shaped object with ends that are rounded and covered in layered, woven strips. The surface wrapping appears to be straw- or linen-like, arranged in longitudinal and crosswise bands. On one side there is a horizontal zone where black/dark pigment has been applied in repeating geometric forms that resemble simplified hieroglyphic signs or decorative pseudo-inscriptions. No clear figure of an animal or explicit ibises are visible from this angle; the object is presented as a bundled package rather than a sculpted or fully exposed animal. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is legible in the provided image. No royal cartouche is clearly identifiable. The overall appearance is consistent with an animal-mummy wrapping, but specific species/contents (small ibises) cannot be confirmed visually from this image alone.

funerary Late Period–Roman Period (as given by catalogue; image itself does not provide secure dating markers) good
Materials woven plant fiber wrappings (likely linen)dark pigment/paintanimal remains (not directly visible)
Signs Unclear dark-painted geometric/hieroglyph-like motif (possibly hieroglyphic signs) ×10
Visible text "Multiple dark-painted, hieroglyph-like geometric motifs in a horizontal band; exact signs are unclear/undecipherable from the image resolution."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Multiple dark-painted, hieroglyph-like geometric motifs in a horizontal band; exact signs are unclear/undecipherable from the image resolution.

Connections

Found at Abydos

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116248097 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 13.186.9 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 552097 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.