This piece, carved from a small piece of red-orange cornelian so thin that it is partially translucent, is in an excellent state of preservation. The only missing element is the back of the seat (the foot of the throne with a fragment from the bottom of the scene). The work is very fine and detailed, and the engraving is extremely skilled: carving cornelian requires a great deal of skill since the stone is fragile and breaks easily. In the openwork border, the marks made during carving, which are angular and irregular in places, are still visible. A small cylindrical hole pierces the base of the headdress horizontally.

The scene is simple: a man, viewed in profile, sits on a low-backed throne; he extends his left arm towards a small pillar in front of him, which probably represents an altar. The round object sitting atop the altar may be a loaf of bread. A thick triangular wig covers the man’s head, on top of which is a pointed headdress with the crown of upper and lower Egypt. This detail is important in the interpretation of this piece because it allows us to identify the sitting fi gure as a pharaoh (in ancient Egypt this crown was reserved exclusively for royalty.)

Some details are indicated by linear incision, traced somewhat summarily onto the surface of the stone (eyes, mouth, hand, throne) while others are well modelled (the face, shoulders, hair); these finely executed details elevate the quality of this object.

The presence of the hole in the crown of this piece indicates that it could have been worn as a pendent, although it is not possible to eliminate the possibility that it was used as inlay or ornament which adorned a piece of furniture (a cask or jewellery box). These inlays are rare: among the better parallels, there is a decorative inlay at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (cornelian with very similar dimensions, depicting Akhenaten and Nefertiti in an intimate scene) and an elliptical inlay from a bracelet of Queen Tiy (18th Dynasty; New York, Metropolitan Museum), with an openwork winged sphinx holding the cartouche of Amenhotep III in her hands.

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