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

Scarab

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, Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, ca. 1479–1458 B.C. Faience. L. 1.6 cm (5/8 in.). From: Hatshepsut Hole, Hathor Shrine, Deir el-Bahri, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1922–23. Subject: Scarabs. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1923.

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.

Small oval scarab-shaped amulet in turquoise-blue faience with a beetle design in the center and a shallow band of hieroglyph-like marks along the top.

The object is photographed front-on against a light background. It is an oval, dome-backed scarab amulet with a raised border. The underside impression is not visible; the image focuses on the beetle on the lower field, shown in dark lines with a central body and patterned legs/wings. Along the upper part of the scarab, there is a horizontal row of dark incised marks resembling hieroglyphic text or decorative pellets; individual signs are not confidently identifiable from the photo resolution. No cartouche or royal titulary cartouches are visible. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is present. The surface shows typical faience glaze with mottling and small areas of loss. The overall condition appears good with minor chips at the edges and small discolorations.

decorative New Kingdom (as catalogued) good
Materials faienceglazed surface (turquoise/blue)
Signs incised sign(s)/decorative glyph row (not reliably identifiable)
Visible text "A short incised row of dark marks/decorative signs along the top edge; exact reading unclear."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

A short incised row of dark marks/decorative signs along the top edge; exact reading unclear.

Connections

Found at Deir el-Bahri
Materials Faience

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116277898 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 23.3.194 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 559600 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.