papyrus-sealing; seal-impression

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papyrus-sealing; seal-impression

Object Type: papyrus-sealing; seal-impression
Museum number: 1956,0519.2
Description: Clay sealing from a papyrus. The images are well preserved and show a strong portrait of a male ruler with fleshy jowls and a large hooked nose, a type associated with Ptolemies VIII and X. The second head shows a similar, although less exaggerated, portrait of a female ruler. There is a ghost of a third female head, which may have been where the seal slipped or may actually represent a third head, in which case the triad can be identified as Ptolemy VIII, Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III. The exaggerated portrait of the male is, however, closer to the images of Ptolemy X. On the back are impressions of horizontal lines, from where the sealing was originally attached to a papyrus document.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 2ndC BC
Findspot: Found/Acquired: Luxor (Thebes)
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 1.90 centimetres; Height: 2.10 centimetres; Width: 2 centimetres
Bibliographic references: Walker & Higgs 2001 / Cleopatra of Egypt: from History to Myth (62); Terracotta / Catalogue of Terracottas in the British Museum (3615)
Location: Not on display
Condition: The top section is cracked and there are further hairline cracks at the sides of the impression.
Subjects
Associated names: Representation of: Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (?); Representation of: Cleopatra II (?); Representation of: Cleopatra III (?); Representation of: Ptolemy X Alexander I (?)
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1956
Department: Greek and Roman
Registration number: 1956,0519.2
Conservation

Free entry

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