Scarab Inscribed with Hieroglyphs in a Scroll Border

Scarab Inscribed with Hieroglyphs in a Scroll Border

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The majority of design scarabs of the late Middle Kingdom (late Dynasty 12–Dynasty 13, ca. 1850 –1640 B.C.) are decorated with symmetric compositions of protective hieroglyphs and/or scrolls. These signs are not meant to form words but are chosen for their positive, protective meaning. This scarab shows the sign for good and beautiful (nefer), the sign of life (ankh) and the basket (nb), surrounded by a decorative border of scrolls. Middle Kingdom scroll borders enclose one or more hieroglyphs, usually including the nefer-sign.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Scarab Inscribed with Hieroglyphs in a Scroll BorderScarab Inscribed with Hieroglyphs in a Scroll BorderScarab Inscribed with Hieroglyphs in a Scroll BorderScarab Inscribed with Hieroglyphs in a Scroll BorderScarab Inscribed with Hieroglyphs in a Scroll Border

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.