Scarab Finger Ring with the Names of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut

Scarab Finger Ring with the Names of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This ring is inscribed on the underside of the scarab with the names of the joint rulers Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. Its bezel is mounted on a swivel, allowing the scarab to be flipped and be used as a seal. Its underside could be impressed onto mud sealings that sealed documents or the content of bags and chests. The inscriptions reads "The Good God, Menkheperre, given life, (and) the Good Goddess, Maatkare, may she live!" The piece has been identified as having belonged to a foreign wife of Thutmose III. It was possibly something bestowed as a mark of royal favor rather than used as an official seal, because it seems too large to have been worn by a woman.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Scarab Finger Ring with the Names of Thutmose III and HatshepsutScarab Finger Ring with the Names of Thutmose III and HatshepsutScarab Finger Ring with the Names of Thutmose III and HatshepsutScarab Finger Ring with the Names of Thutmose III and HatshepsutScarab Finger Ring with the Names of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut

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.