WALTERS-EG
Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · jewelry
Scarab with a Royal Title
Description
<p>This steatite scarab is inscribed on the bottom with the "two royal aspects" title and the basic component of the unification icon (the plants of Upper and Lower Egypt). The top of the scarab is high and simple with carved details. The workmanship of the piece is good, and it is carefully made. This amulet has kingship connotations, and was originally mounted or threaded. The royal title and the unification icon refer both the the association of the dualistic aspects of kingship and state, as well as of the whole creation. The amulet should provide its owner with royal support and guarantee a stable and well-organized environment. The unification icon also has a renewal connotation. The combined use of the title and icon is much less common than the icon alone. The five times serration of the clypeus of the scarab is rare, and does not have many parallels.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/42.22' rel='external'>Scarab with a Royal Title</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>
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.
Oval scarab seal carved in light beige steatite with an incised royal title in Egyptian hieroglyphs on the base.
The image shows a close-up of the underside (base) of an ancient Egyptian scarab-shaped seal. Within the oval border, multiple hieroglyphic signs are incised in darker lines, arranged in vertical and horizontal bands. The most prominent central motifs include a vertical column of signs at center and wing-like or symmetrical elements to either side, suggesting a formatted royal title rather than pictorial decoration alone. The surface has a worn but legible incision style, with no visible metal mounts. No separate cartouche outline is clearly distinguishable from the surrounding signs at this resolution.
religious
unclear (likely New Kingdom–Late Period based on scarab/royal-title format; cannot be determined precisely from the image alone)
good
Materials
light beige steatite (catalogued)incised hieroglyphs in darker stone/engraving
Signs
unknown hieroglyphic signs (royal-title composition) ×8
Inscriptions (1)
Inscription #1
English description
[Translation] King of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Cross-references (2)
- Walters-AccNum 42.22 tier-2
- Walters-id 662 tier-2
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About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
- 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.