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Cylinder sheath
Nubian
Napatan Period, reign of Malonaqen
555–542 B.C.
Object Place: Sudan, Nubia, Nuri, Pyr. 27
Medium/Technique
Silver
Dimensions
Height x diameter: 13.2 × 3.3 cm (5 3/16 × 1 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
Accession Number21.11746
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsUnclassifiable objects – Function unknown
DescriptionSilver gilt cylinder sheath (originally probably mounted on silver, now mounted on modern silver cylinders) in two parts, both of which have repoussé and engraved decorations including cartouches of Queen Madikeñ; fragmentary and incomplete; half of bottom (decorated with engraved rosette) missing.
[Alternate Text for 20.275, 21.340, 11735, 11737, 11746:]
Gold, electrum, and gilded silver objects called cylinder sheaths were found in a number of the tombs of the kings and queens of Kush at Nuri in the Sudan, but have not been recorded elsewhere. Each consists of two cylinders, the longer one closed at the base and the shorter having an internal sleeve that fits inside the longer piece. The cylinders are decorated with friezes of uraei and ram's heads, divine figures, and royal names. Their purpose is unknown; it has been suggested that they held rolled documents, but the open end makes this unlikely.
[Alternate Text for 20.275, 21.340, 11735, 11737, 11746:]
Gold, electrum, and gilded silver objects called cylinder sheaths were found in a number of the tombs of the kings and queens of Kush at Nuri in the Sudan, but have not been recorded elsewhere. Each consists of two cylinders, the longer one closed at the base and the shorter having an internal sleeve that fits inside the longer piece. The cylinders are decorated with friezes of uraei and ram's heads, divine figures, and royal names. Their purpose is unknown; it has been suggested that they held rolled documents, but the open end makes this unlikely.
ProvenanceFrom Nuri, Pyramid 27. 1918: excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the government of Sudan.