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

Early New Kingdom–Ramesside Period, Dynasty 19–20, ca. 1295–1070 B.C. Limestone, paint. H. 9.8 × W. 9.2 × D. 2.7 cm (3 7/8 × 3 5/8 × 1 1/16 in.). Probably from: Deir el-Medina. 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 broken, tan limestone ostracon with faded reddish-brown and darker ink/pigment hieroglyphic writing and traces of painted figures or signs.

The image shows a single fragmentary ostracon (irregular, roughly oval shape) with a light limestone surface and visible areas where pigment has flaked. Across the right and central portions there are clusters of dark and reddish-brown painted marks consistent with Egyptian hieroglyphs. Some signs appear stacked or aligned in horizontal bands, suggesting written text rather than a scene. A small numbering-like mark in red is visible near the lower left/center, but no Greek/Coptic/Arabic is legible. No clearly identifiable cartouche or royal name is confidently readable at this resolution. No deities can be identified with certainty; the visible marks are too fragmentary for reliable deity attribution.

hieroglyphic only Early New Kingdom–Ramesside Period (per catalogue; text style appears broadly New Kingdom/Deir el-Medina administrative/worker writing, but exact dating uncertain from image alone). fragmentary
Materials limestonepaint (reddish-brown/darker pigment)
Signs hieroglyphic signs/word groups (unidentified) ×20
Visible text "Portions of hieroglyphic text are visible but too fragmentary to transcribe reliably; a small red numbering/mark is visible near the lower section, exact characters unclear."

Connections

Found at Deir el-Medina
Materials Limestone

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116431343 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 13.182.33 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 555944 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.