Scarab with a Floral Motif

The design on this scarab is comparable to some late Middle Kingdom examples with similarly composed patterns. A vertical boat-shaped motif in the center is flanked by two nefer (perfection) signs. At top and bottom floral segments are separated from the central motif by horizontal bars from which papyrus flowers bend toward the nefer signs. The scarab was found in the plundered chamber reached by a shaft in the portico of a rock-cut tomb in the Asasif section of the Theban necropolis. Among the finds were parts of a rectangular wooden coffin with green hieroglyphs on a yellow background as well as a few remains of one or more model wooden boat(s), this scarab and two more with blank undersides (13.180.9, .10), two anhydrite toilet vessels (13.180.19a- .c, .20) and a group of jewelry items (13.180.1- .18a- .l) striking for the extensive use of silver. Dates that can be ascertained by stylistic comparisons to some of these objects range from the late Middle Kingdom (ca. 1850-1700 B. C.) to the late Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1580-1550 B. C.). A number of clay pots (28.3.239- .241 now in the Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago) from the area of the tomb but not with certainty identified as found inside the shaft and chamber from which the jewelry was obtained date to the late Second Intermediate Period.