Scarab Inscribed with Hieroglyphs in a Scroll Border

Unknown

ca. 1700–1600 B.C. (Middle Bronze Age IIB) · Steatite · Egyptian Art

The underside of the scarab shows several hieroglyphs placed inside an oval that is framed by a continuous border of interlocking scrolls. In the upper part of the oval is a wedjat-eye placed underneath two signs that form an incomplete version of a well-known formula of the Middle Kingdom meaning ‘given by Re’. Below are three hieroglyphs forming a debased rendering of the name Ptah. The incorrect inscriptions and the way the back of the scarab is decorated indicate that this is a Canaanite scarab dated to the Second Intermediate Period, ca. 1700-1600 B.C. These Canaanite scarabs often imitate Middle Kingdom designs.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1700–1600 B.C. (Middle Bronze Age IIB)

Medium

Steatite

Department

Egyptian Art

Credit line

Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915