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

Ivory Seal Fragment of a Recumbent Animal

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

Description

Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11, ca. 2030–1640 B.C. Ivory. H. 4.8 cm (1 7/8 in.). From: Tomb TT 312, MMA 509, courtyard, Deir el-Bahri, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1922–23. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1926.

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 carved ivory fragment in the form of a curved seal field containing part of a standing/recumbent animal scene and accompanying hieroglyph-like marks.

The image shows a narrow, curved piece of material with a beveled/raised border, consistent with a seal fragment. Inside the field there are incised lines forming a partial animal figure (the lower portions of a body and legs/hooves are visible, with adjacent parallel incised strokes that may belong to the animal or surrounding decorative/inscribed elements). The marks are primarily in the form of incised glyph-like strokes rather than a clearly legible full inscription. No cartouche with royal names is clearly identifiable, and the animal is only partially preserved. The surface appears ivory-like (light, matte with fine abrasion and edge wear). No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible.

decorative Middle Kingdom (per catalogue ground truth; exact dating not confirmable from fragment alone) fragmentary
Materials ivory
Signs incised glyph-like strokes (partial; not confidently assignable)

Connections

Found at Deir el-Bahri
Materials Ivory

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116275459 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 26.3.147 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 561795 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.