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Rhinoceros beetle box

Ptolemaic Period
664–30 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134
This rather sinister horned creature seems to represent the rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes nascicarnis, which is native to the Mediterranean region. The small bronze sarcophagus that it guards once held a beetle mummy, though not necessarily of the same species. In embalming beetles, as in all animal mummification, the Egyptians of the Late Period and Ptolemaic and Roman times gave tangible form to their belief that all animals, large and small were incarnations of the divine.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Rhinoceros beetle box
  • Period: Ptolemaic Period
  • Date: 664–30 B.C.
  • Geography: From Egypt
  • Medium: Cupreous metal
  • Dimensions: h. 6.4 cm (2 1/2 in); l. 7 cm (2 3/4 in); w. 5.9 cm (2 5/16 in)
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926
  • Object Number: 26.7.855
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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