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

Hieratic ostracon with remains of red numeral

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

Description

Ostracon, hieratic. New Kingdom, Ramesside, Dynasty 19–20, ca. 1295–1070 B.C. Limestone, ink, paint. L. 10.4 × W. 4.2 × Th. 2.5 cm (4 1/8 × 1 5/8 × 1 in.). From: Valley of the Kings, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: Davis excavations. 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 small broken limestone ostracon with faint reddish ink remnants arranged in short numeral-like strokes/figures.

The image shows a light tan/cream ostracon (limestone) broken into an irregular wedge shape with a missing section along the left edge and top, leaving the lower portion intact. On the front face there are several small, reddish marks forming what appear to be numeral-like signs (short horizontal/vertical strokes and a clustered grouping), consistent with painted/inked red notation. No clear full hieratic sign sequence is legible at this resolution; the marks look like partial red numerals rather than complete text. A color scale is present to the right, but no other inscriptions (hieroglyphs, Greek, Coptic, or Arabic) are visible.

hieroglyphic only New Kingdom (Ramesside period), as catalogued; exact dating unclear from image alone. fragmentary
Materials limestoneinkpaint
Signs red numeral-like strokes (hieratic numeral remains) ×4
Visible text "Red numerals/numeral-like strokes; exact digits/signs unclear."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Red numerals/numeral-like strokes; exact digits/signs unclear.

Connections

Found at Valley of the Kings
Materials LimestonePaintInk

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116438392 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 09.184.743 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 561384 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.