Sealing, from letter 22.3.518 from Heqanakht to Rahotep

Sealing, from letter 22.3.518 from Heqanakht to Rahotep

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Discovered attached to a letter from Heqanakht to the Overseer of the Delta, Herunefer (see 22.3.518), this lump of mud is an example of a sealing. When a document was ready, it was folded or rolled and wrapped with a string. A small lump of mud was placed over the ends of the string and impressed with the incised underside of a seal, such as a scarab. This served to identify the owner or writer of the document.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sealing, from letter 22.3.518 from Heqanakht to RahotepSealing, from letter 22.3.518 from Heqanakht to RahotepSealing, from letter 22.3.518 from Heqanakht to RahotepSealing, from letter 22.3.518 from Heqanakht to RahotepSealing, from letter 22.3.518 from Heqanakht to Rahotep

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.