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

Ostracon

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

Description

Ostracon, hieratic. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, ca. 1550–1295 B.C. Pottery. L. 9.6 × W. 7.2 × Th. 0.6 cm (3 3/4 × 2 13/16 × 1/4 in.). From: Workmen's Huts near KV 55 (site 18) or between KV 18 and KV 21, or from chip heaps in same branch of Valley, Valley of the Kings, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: Davis/Ayrton excavations, 1907–08. Credit: Gift of Theodore M. Davis, 1909.

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, triangular piece of pottery bearing a short line of ink writing/hieroglyphic-style marks.

The image shows a broken, irregular triangular pottery fragment photographed against a neutral gray background. The surface is tan/brown with uneven edges consistent with an ostracon. Near the upper portion there is a small cluster of dark markings that resemble hieroglyphic sign strokes arranged in a compact horizontal grouping. No clear cartouche, full sentence, or deity determinatives are confidently readable from the provided resolution. A modern scale marker appears to the right, with alternating black and white segments. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible.

hieroglyphic only New Kingdom (catalogued); exact sign/date not determinable from image alone fragmentary
Materials pottery (ostracon fragment)dark ink/paint for inscription
Signs Unidentified hieroglyphic-style signs/ink marks (short text) ×2
Visible text "Short, partially legible cluster of dark ink marks; exact transcription unclear/insufficient resolution."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Short, partially legible cluster of dark ink marks; exact transcription unclear/insufficient resolution.

Connections

Found at Valley of the Kings
Materials Pottery

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116416905 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 09.184.205 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 550344 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.