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

Cup of Nesikhonsu

Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access), acc. 21.2.71. Public domain (CC0). Copy archived by egyptianinscriptions.org with attribution; original at the holding institution.

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Accession: 21.2.71
Find spot: Valleys south of Deir el-Bahri, Valley of the Cachette, Upper Egypt, Thebes approx. site location
Period: Third Intermediate Period or later
Dynasty: Dynasty 21
Reign: Reign of High Priest Painedjem II
Date: ca. 990–969 B.C.
Date range: 990 BCE – 969 BCE
Materials: ['faience']
Repository: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
At source: View original →

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Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access), Cup of Nesikhonsu (21.2.71). Egyptian Inscriptions Database. https://egyptianinscriptions.org/object/54275

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Description

Cup, Nesikhonsu. Third Intermediate Period or later, Dynasty 21, Reign of High Priest Painedjem II, ca. 990–969 B.C. Faience. H. 6.1 × Dia. 4.5 cm (2 3/8 × 1 3/4 in.). Probably from: First Royal Cache (TT 320), Burial of Nesikhonsu, Valleys south of Deir el-Bahri, Valley of the Cachette, Upper Egypt, Thebes. Excavation: Egyptian Antiquities Service/Maspero excavations, 1881. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1921.

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 turquoise-blue faience cup with an incised/painted hieroglyphic inscription on the exterior wall.

The object is a squat, conical cup (open top, slightly constricting toward the base) in a glossy turquoise-blue material. The surface shows minor chips and worn areas. On the front-facing area, a rectangular panel contains dark-blue to black hieroglyphic signs arranged in multiple lines; the signs are bordered by a border rectangle. Individual sign forms are present but too unclear at this image resolution and wear to confidently transcribe specific words or determinatives. No cartouche is clearly legible. No figurative decoration or deity imagery is visible. Background is a neutral studio gray with even lighting emphasizing the cup’s form and inscription panel.

photographic documentation Third Intermediate Period or later (per catalogue; image does not allow finer dating) good

Materials faienceturquoise-blue glaze

Signs hieroglyphic signs in a rectangular inscription panel (exact transcription unclear) ×10

Visible text "Unclear; a rectangular hieroglyphic inscription panel is visible but individual signs are not reliably readable from the provided image."

Connections

Found at Valleys South Of Deir El-Bahri

Materials Faience Turquoise-Blue Glaze

Cross-references (4)

Wikidata-Q Q116423375 tier-1
Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
Inventory-Number 21.2.71 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
MET-Object 553730 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.