Foundation deposit
cowroid
1.3cm
0.5cm
glazed steatite
Cowroid seal made of blue glazed steatite. On the base there is an inscription in incised hieroglyphs: "God's wife, Hatshepsut (ḥm.t nṯr ḥȝt-šps.wt)". Signs are vertically orietnted to the right. Back of the cowroid is decoarted with the image of tilapia eating water plants. Decorative pattern around this image resembles the setting of a swivel ring bezel. Length 1.9cm.
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- Weinstein, James Morris, Foundation Deposits in Ancient Egypt, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Pennsylvania 1973, 159-160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., Galán, José M., Bryan, Betsy M., Occasional Proceedings of the Theban Workshop. Creativity and Innovation in the Reign of Hatshepsut. Papers from the Theban Workshop 2010, Chicago 2014, 150
- Roehrig, Catharine H., Foundation deposits for the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, in: Roehrig, Catharine H., Keller, Cathleen A., Dreyfus, Renée, Hatshepsut. From Queen to Pharaoh, New Haven, London 2005, 142, Fig(s). 75b
- 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, 87-88, Fig(s). 48
- Winlock, Herbert Eustis, Excavations at Deir el-Bahri 1911-1931, New York 1942, 132-135, Pl(s). 43
- Winlock, Herbert Eustis, The Egyptian Expedition 1925-1927: The Museum's Excavations at Thebes, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 23.2, 1928, Fig(s). 28