WALTERS-EG
Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · jewelry
Scarab with Script Signs
Description
<p>This steatite scarab was originally glazed. It has a flat underside with a vertically arranged bottom design with a combination of seven different script signs, six of which appear twice. The design of the scarab's back is simple with short aligned side-notches and well balanced proportions. The piece is simply made and the workmanship is good. This multifunctional amulet should provide royal and divine support, good luck, life, renewal, and protection. The double presence of the six signs refers to the creation, and the single sun disc to the creator. The amulet should protect and support its owner in all different situations. The piece was originally mounted or threaded. Scarabs displaying hieroglyphic sign arrangements without syntactical context are typical for the late Middle Kingdom and the Hyksos Period.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/42.12' rel='external'>Scarab with Script Signs</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 an oval scarab-like Egyptian amulet rendered in light-colored stone, filled with multiple dark incised marks that resemble script signs (and possibly decorative/counterpart motifs) within an incised oval border.
The artifact appears as a scarab/oval amulet viewed from above, with an outer incised border. Inside the border are numerous dark, irregular but deliberate incised elements arranged as a pseudo-inscription: vertical and hook-like strokes, clustered shapes, and curving marks in several compartments. No clearly legible individual hieroglyphs, royal names, or cartouches can be confidently read from the provided image resolution/contrast. There is no visible Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text. The stone surface is light beige/cream with darkened recesses from wear or pigment, consistent with carved steatite. The object’s condition is somewhat worn with softened edges of the carved signs.
decorative
unclear (likely Egyptian dynastic period amuletic scarab; exact date cannot be determined from this image alone)
good
Materials
light beige steatite (catalogued)incised dark lines in recessed areas (possibly pigment/wear staining)
Signs
incised script-like signs (unreadable fragments) ×20
Inscriptions (1)
Inscription #1
English description
[Translation] The combination has seven different hieroglyphic signs, of which six appear twice, only the sun disc is not repeated. The terms are: King - appearance, perfection/good luck, come into being, beginning - life, Re, life - beginning.
Cross-references (2)
- Walters-AccNum 42.12 tier-2
- Walters-id 28134 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.