Foundation deposit
cowroid
1.3cm
glazed steatite
Cowroid made of green glazed steatite. Back of the amulet is carved with a decorative pattern that suggests the setting of a swivel ring bezel. On the base there is an inscription with Hatshepsut prenomen flanked from the right side with ʿnḫ-sigh and from the left with tj-sign. Togehter the inscription can be read as: "Maat-ka-Ra, may she live (or living) (Mȝʿ.t-kȝ-Rʿ ʿnḫ.tj)". Hieroglyphs are oriented vertically on the scarab. Length 2.2cm.
Excavated by the H.E. Winlock (Metropolitan Museum of Art) in the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari in 1926-1927. Gained by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1927 in the division of finds (Rogers Fund).
Museum object
Bibliography:
- Weinstein, James Morris, Foundation Deposits in Ancient Egypt, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Pennsylvania 1973, 159-160
- Roehrig, Catharine H., The Foundation Deposits of Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahari, in: Dorman, Peter F., Bryan, Betsy M., Galán, José M., Occasional Proceedings of the Theban Workshop. Creativity and Innovation in the Reign of Hatshepsut. Papers from the Theban Workshop 2010, Chicago 2014, 150
- Hayes, William C., The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, The Hyksos Period and the New Kingdom, Cambridge, Mass. 1959, 88
- Winlock, Herbert Eustis, Excavations at Deir el-Bahri 1911-1931, New York 1942, 132-135