Ivory Gaming Reed

Dynasty Dynasty 19 (Ancient Egyptian, 1295–1186 BCE)

Period New Kingdom Period (Ancient Egyptian, 1550–1070 BCE)

Place of OriginEgypt, Balabish necropolis, Tomb 72

Date19th Dynasty (1292–1189 BCE)

Dimensions2 3/4 × 11/16 in. (7 × 1.7 cm)

Mediumivory

ClassificationUtilitarian Objects

Credit LineEgypt Exploration Fund

Object number

1915.90B

Not on View

DescriptionIvory.

Label TextThese thin ivory strips (1915.90A-C) were originally part of a decorated wooden box, a type of personal furnishing often buried with the dead. They were found in Tomb 72 at Balabish, a cemetery excavated in 1915 by the Egypt Exploration Fund on behalf of American museums. The tomb dates to the 19th Dynasty, a time when such cosmetic and grooming equipment was regularly included in burial assemblages. Balabish yielded over 240 graves, providing a wide view into funerary practices across different social levels in ancient Egypt.Comparative ReferencesSee also Posener, Georges, Encyclopedia of Egyptian Civilization, New York, Tudor Publishing Company, 1959, repr. p. 97.