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

Bead with Cartouche of Shebitqo

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

Description

Bead, Shebitqo. Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 25 (Kushite), reign of Shebitqo, ca. 707–690 B.C. Faience. L 3.6 × Diam. 3 cm (1 7/16 × 1 3/16 in.). Possibly from: Nubia. Credit: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915.

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.

Cylindrical faience bead fragment showing a recessed cartouche-like inscription containing vertically oriented hieroglyphs.

The image depicts a small, heavily worn cylindrical/short-oval object with a reddish-brown and greenish surface typical of faience. One face includes a recessed cartouche frame in dark pigment or glaze lines; inside are multiple vertically stacked hieroglyphs arranged in two columns, though exact sign forms are partly eroded. The top and bottom edges are irregular due to abrasion, and the piece appears broken or chipped. No accompanying Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible, and no clear deity figure is depicted—only the cartouche/instructional signs.

decorative Third Intermediate Period (as catalogued); inscription style unclear due to wear. fragmentary
Materials faience (glazed ceramic)
Signs cartouche frame/oval cartouche (recessed) hieroglyphic signs inside cartouche (unreadable due to erosion) ×6
Visible text "Recessed cartouche with vertically arranged hieroglyphs; individual signs not reliably legible in the provided image."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Recessed cartouche with vertically arranged hieroglyphs; individual signs not reliably legible in the provided image.

Connections

Materials Faience

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116432778 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 30.8.320 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 557940 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.