Sealing

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Small lumps of clay or mud were often used to seal goods, doors, or documents. They are called sealings. On one side they often bear an impression of the seal used, while another side can show an impression of the object itself or of its closing mechanism (such as a string). The sealing here bears the impression of what was probably a scarab. The flat and oval-shaped underside of the seal amulet used was incised with a scroll motive that surrounds an ankh- and a nefer-hieroglyph.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art