Tile with Floral Inlays

ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E.

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Brooklyn Museum photograph

1 of 3

Object Label

This tile probably formed part of a decorative faience border framing a painting done on a mud wall in the Great Palace. The eleven tiny floral inlays are marguerites, white or yellow flowers resembling the daisy.

Caption

Tile with Floral Inlays, ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E.. Faience, 4 3/8 x 1/4 x 6 1/2 in. (11.1 x 0.7 x 16.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 35.2001. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 35.2001_SL1.jpg)

Title

Tile with Floral Inlays

Date

ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E.

Dynasty

late Dynasty 18

Period

New Kingdom, Amarna Period

Geography

Place excavated: Tell el-Amarna, Egypt

Medium

Faience

Classification

Tiles

Dimensions

4 3/8 x 1/4 x 6 1/2 in. (11.1 x 0.7 x 16.5 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society

Accession Number

35.2001

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

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Frequent Art Questions

  • I've never seen ancient art like this before. Is this considered more rare than the limestone pieces from that era?

    I'm not sure how frequent inlays like this are found, but I do know that they are often quite fragmentary thus making them not as interesting or informative to display. Which explains why you don't see them as much. Plus these inlays come from the city of Amarna where people actually lived rather than a tomb or temple like much of the objects on view from ancient Egypt.
    The material that they are made out of was actually quite common. You'll see many small objects like figurines--usually blue--made out of faience as well.
  • Wanted to know more about this. Also, where is this region?

    This case shows a sampling of faience inlays from Amarna, the capital of the era in which Akhenaten and Nefertiti ruled and worshipped the deity the sun disc, Aten. The city was called Akhetaten in ancient times and was located to the east of the Nile in central Egypt, in what is now the Minya governate.
    The material you're looking at, faience, is something you will see throughout Egyptian art. Often green-blue, faience is made from a quartz-based paste molded and fired at a high temperature, with a glaze of powdered glass mixed with liquid.
  • Is there any significance to the six dots at the bottom of the tile?

    This tile would have been set into a wall and is only part of a larger decorative scheme. I believe those dots represent the beginning of a design that continued on the next tile.
    Cool thanks!

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