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

Papyrus Lid from Tutankhamun's Embalming Cache

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

Description

Jar Lid, papyrus. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Tutankhamun, ca. 1336–1327 B.C. Papyrus fiber. Diam. 7.5 cm (2 15/16 in.). From: Embalming Cache of Tutankhamun (KV 54), Valley of the Kings, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: Davis/Ayrton excavations, 1907–08. Credit: Gift of Theodore M. Davis, 1909.

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 circular, bundled papyrus-fiber lid or cover with radial pleating and a strip along the rim; a faint red/oxidized line of numbers appears on the surface.

The object is a small, round lid-like piece made from tan papyrus fibers bundled and folded into radial segments. The surface shows dense, fan-like pleats radiating from the center, and a darker, stitched or bound zone near the perimeter. Along the upper face there is a red painted/inked set of digits that appears to be an inventory or accession marking; no clear Egyptian hieroglyphs, cartouches, or deity names are visible in the photo. The outer edge is uneven where fibers fray, suggesting age and/or preservation-related loss. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is legible.

decorative New Kingdom (per catalogue); precise date from image unclear good
Materials papyrus fiber
Signs Red numeric marking (likely inventory/accession)
Visible text "Faint red digits resembling an accession/inventory number (exact characters unclear)"

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Faint red digits resembling an accession/inventory number (exact characters unclear)

Connections

Found at Valley of the Kings
Royals Tutankhamun
Materials Papyrus Fiber

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116280801 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 09.184.241 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 558593 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.