Box Lid with Incised Figural Decoration

A cylindrical lidded box in a warm brown tone, photographed at a three-quarter angle against a plain gray ground. The domed lid carries dense incised linework in pale fill, with a small central knob and figures too fine to read clearly at this scale.

Look closer: Small central knob on the lid, with a faint crack along the lower side of the box body.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 3rd–4th century

Medium

Ivory

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

4000 × 3200 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Jeffrey B. Soref, in honor of Steven Kossak, 1998