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

Cartonnage fragment

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

Description

Cartonnage fragment, painted. Roman Period, 100–300. Linen, stucco, paint. H. 30.1 cm (11 7/8 in.); W. 15.2 cm (6 in.). From: Roman Cemetery, el-Deir, Western Desert; Kharga Oasis, Egypt. Subject: Human Figures, Animals. Credit: Rogers 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 painted cartonnage fragment showing a central vertical column bordered by rectangular framing bands, filled with stacked bands of repeating triangular/arch-like motifs.

The object appears as a flat, reddish-brown painted fragment with a surrounding border of alternating dark and light rectangular blocks. Inside, a central vertical strip divides the composition. Across the width are multiple stacked horizontal bands containing repeating triangular or arch-shaped motifs in alternating dark outlines and yellow/orange fills. At the top center there is a small black animal/figure-like form flanked by two curved black elements resembling stylized ibises/standing birds, though the exact subjects are unclear. The central area is filled with patterned bands consistent with funerary decoration; no clearly legible hieroglyphic text or cartouches are visible in the provided view. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is present.

funerary Roman Period (consistent with catalogue) fragmentary
Deities unknown
Materials painted plaster (stucco)linen textile (uncertain, implied by cartonnage)
Signs Bird-like motifs (possibly ibis) flanking a small central figure ×3 Triangular/arch-like repeating motif bands ×20

Connections

Materials Painted Plaster
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.