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

Ostracon with liliform capital

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

Description

Late Period, Saite, Dynasty 26, reign of Psamtik I, 664–610 B.C. Limestone, ink. H. 11 × W. 12.8 cm (4 5/16 × 5 1/16 in.). From: Tomb of Nespakashuty (TT 312, MMA 509a), in the rubbish of the court, Deir el-Bahri, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1922–23. 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.

Limestone ostracon fragment bearing a partially preserved column of dark ink hieroglyphs.

The image shows a small, roughly oval/triangular limestone piece with a fractured edge and a flat surface inscribed with dark, wet-looking ink. In the center-left is a vertical register containing multiple grouped signs; several are legible only in part due to wear, smearing, and breakage. No cartouche, divine iconography, or royal titulary is clearly discernible from the visible portion. The inscription appears to be a short written exercise or label-like text rather than a scene.

hieroglyphic only Late Period, Saite (ground-truth from catalogue) fragmentary
Materials limestone (visible stone fabric)ink (dark painted inscription)
Signs hieroglyphic signs (indistinct group in a vertical line) ×6
Visible text "Vertical column of dark ink hieroglyphs; exact transcription unclear/illegible due to fragmentation."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Vertical column of dark ink hieroglyphs; exact transcription unclear/illegible due to fragmentation.

Connections

Found at Deir el-Bahri

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116280848 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 23.3.35 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 558432 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.