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

Ostracon

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

Description

Pottery, ink

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 reddish-orange pottery ostracon fragment with faint black ink marks arranged in short horizontal/diagonal strokes resembling partial hieroglyphic writing.

The image shows a rectangular fragment of fired clay with irregular edges. The surface is reddish-brown with some darker and lighter patches from firing and wear. Near the center and upper areas, there are several small ink signs or strokes (dark gray/black), appearing as scattered, partially preserved hieroglyph-like marks rather than a continuous inscription. No readable complete word, cartouche, or clear determinative can be confidently identified from the available resolution. The marks do not form a clearly legible Greek or Coptic inscription, and no clear royal titulary is visible. The overall appearance matches a typical ostracon used for ink writing.

hieroglyphic only Late Period–Ptolemaic Period (consistent with the catalogue; specific dynasty/king not identifiable from the image) fragmentary
Materials potteryink
Signs unidentified ink hieroglyphic strokes ×10

Connections

Found at Hibis
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.