Finger Ring Belonging to Queen Tiye

The bezel of this gold stirrup ring has long attracted debate. It was once interpreted as an image of Akhenaten and Nefertiti as the gods Shu and Tefnut, children of Atum-Re, with the solar disk above and the earth below. This reading drew upon the strong Heliopolitan influence apparent in Amarna religion and a proposed association between Nefertiti and Tefnut.

More recent study, however, has questioned this interpretation. The crouching king, with the solar disk above and a Ma’at feather at his knee, closely resembles a well-attested monogram of Nebmaatre, the throne name of Amenhotep III. The rippled oval beneath the figures may represent the canal sign mer, ‘beloved’, while the female figure wears the double-feather crown and carries a fly-whisk characteristic of queens rather than goddesses. She is therefore most plausibly identified as Queen Tiye, giving the inscription the sense ‘Tiye, beloved of Amenhotep III’.

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The ring was excavated at Amarna, where Tiye is known to have resided during the later part of her life. A small number of rings bearing the names or imagery of Amarna royalty were similarly made from gold with a distinctive pinkish hue.

Excavated by W. M. F. Petrie at Amarna, 1891–92; later in the collections of Lord Amherst and Lord Carnarvon. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1926.

Summary:

Gold Finger Ring, Probably Belonging to Queen Tiye

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep III–Akhenaten, c. 1386–1330 B.C.

From Amarna (Akhetaten), Egypt

Met Museum. 26.7.767