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

Funerary Cone of the Chief of the Medjay Turo

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

Description

New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, ca. 1550–1295 B.C. Pottery. L. 23.5 cm (9 1/4 in.); Diam. 8 cm (3 1/8 in.). From: Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Subject: Hieroglyphs. Credit: Gift of Norman de Garis Davies, 1930.

The same text in other collections

Linked by shared inventory number (MET-Object 554897). Each record below describes this same artifact or text from a different angle.

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 round ceramic object with an incised or impressed inscription arranged in horizontal bands around its face, photographed against a dark background.

The image shows a single, rounded cone/plug-like artifact made of light-colored material (likely clay/ceramic). Its face contains a field of carved or stamped marks that appear to be hieroglyphic-style signs, organized into rectangular compartments or vertical stacks within horizontal zones. The outer rim shows rough surface texture and possible wear, with the inscription concentrated in the central face. No clear icon of a deity or human figure is visible; the main diagnostic feature is the inscribed writing. The object’s form and presence of hieroglyphs are consistent with a funerary inscribed clay cone, though the exact title reference to “Chief of the Medjay Turo” cannot be securely read from this image. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible. The photograph does not show a cartouche that can be confidently identified, and no royal name is readable.

funerary New Kingdom (catalogue ground truth; inscription not legible enough here for secure paleographic confirmation) good
Materials ceramic/clay (pottery)
Signs hieroglyphic-style inscription (exact signs unclear) ×30

Cross-references (5)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116244263 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 30.6.4 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 554897 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • PNM-Object pnm:83906049 tier-2 (inventory-match)
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.