Ancient Egypt, Early Dynastic Period, 1st to 2nd Dynasty, ca. 3150 to 2686 BCE. A simple yet elegant hand-carved alabaster bowl of a sizable form with a globular body which gradually tapers to a petite flat base. The upper body boasts an incised lattice-patterned band around the sloping shoulder which is interrupted only by a quartet of pierced lug handles. The underside of the discoid rim is carved away, and the topside gently slopes inwards to a deep interior. An exquisite example of early Egyptian craftsmanship! Size: 7.75" W x 5.2" H (19.7 cm x 13.2 cm).
Alabaster was quarried along the length of the Nile, from Giza to just south of Luxor. Offering vessels made of alabaster were used in temples and placed in the tombs of people at all class levels. For example, Auguste Mariette, the famous French Egyptologist of the 19th century, found a cemetery for the poor in Memphis where the dead had been buried without wrappings only three feet below the ground - but each had a small alabaster bowl and some animal bones, as they had been given food and drink for the afterlife. Meanwhile, kings were buried with many alabaster objects, often of the highest quality, necessary to provide for them during their time in the underworld.
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection
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#138438
Condition
Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age, small loss to rim, minor nicks to body, rim, and base, fading to incised panel on shoulder, and roughness across most surfaces. Nice earthen deposits and encrustations throughout.