Ring Inscribed with Hieroglyphs
Probably Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE)
Medium
Gold
Dimensions
1.4 × 2.2 × 2.3 cm (9/16 × 7/8 × 7/8 in.)
Classification
ring (jewelry)
Department
Arts of Africa
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
140450
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Upon death, people who were thought to have lived moral lives were reborn in the afterlife as a form of the god Osiris. This ring is inscribed with the title “Osiris,” followed by the owner’s names and titles, attesting to his faith that he would become one with the god after death.
About the Artist
Ancient Egyptian
Ancient Egyptian artists, a collective of highly skilled artisans spanning over three millennia from the Predynastic period (c. 6000–3150 BC) to the Roman era (30 BC–4th century AD), produced some of humanity's most enduring masterpieces. These anonymous craftsmen, often organized in state-sponsored workshops, lived in dedicated communities like Deir el-Medina near Luxor during the New Kingdom (c....