WALTERS-EG
Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · jewelry
Scarab with Cartouche of Thutmosis IV (1397-1388 BCE)
Description
<p>This glazed steatite scarab is inscribed on the flat underside in sunk relief. The top of the piece is medium high, and is incised with a very detailed design. The workmanship is good and the piece is carefully made. The piece functioned as an individualized, supportive amulet, and was originally mounted or threaded. The amulet has a royal renewal connotation, and should secure life and renewal of royal authority for this king, Thutmosis IV (1397-1388 BCE); it should provide a private owner with this king's royal patronage. It is possible that such scarabs were distributed to the officials during the "Sed" festival of the king.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/42.47' rel='external'>Scarab with Cartouche of Thutmosis IV (1397-1388 BCE)</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.
The image shows a small, rounded scarab-shaped object with an incised cartouche-like oval containing hieroglyphic strokes.
The artifact appears as a scarab with a domed, oval body. The central area contains an inset cartouche-like frame with multiple dark, incised signs arranged in lines. Around and within the frame, there are additional small raised/paint-like traces of green-blue coloration and darker marks consistent with pigment or glaze. The background is beige/tan with scattered speckling and wear; the edges show pitting and loss of surface in places. No clearly legible Thutmosis IV cartouche is fully readable from this image; the internal signs are too unclear to confidently transcribe.
decorative
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty (consistent with a Thutmosis IV scarab), c. 1397–1388 BCE (catalogue dating)
good
Royals
Thutmosis IV (cartouche claimed by catalogue; not clearly legible in the provided image)
Materials
beige/tan stone bodydark incised pigment/ink tracesgreen-blue glaze/patina tracespossibly vitreous glaze with flaking/pitting
Signs
cartouche-like oval frame with incised hieroglyphic strokes (unreadable) ×8
Inscriptions (1)
Inscription #1
English description
[Translation] Throne name of King Thutmose IV in a cartouche combined with a wish formula: Men-kheperu-Re, / who may live millions of years.
Connections
Royals
Thutmose IV
Cross-references (2)
- Walters-AccNum 42.47 tier-2
- Walters-id 26972 tier-2
Similar inscriptions · by content embedding
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.