Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, ca. 1991 to 1802 BCE. A beautiful example of a hand-carved banded alabaster kohl jar. Boasting attractive honey-yellow hues interspersed with opaque white banding, the vessel exhibits a planar base beneath an apple-shaped body, a rounded shoulder, a squat neck, and a discoid rim surrounding the mouth. The flat design of the rim indicates that a lid was present at one time, perhaps with a petite hole to accommodate a slender applicator. Expert ancient polishing techniques have rendered smooth the surfaces of this vessel and create a nice luster. Size: 3.75" H (9.5 cm)
Alabaster, which is a form of gypsum or calcite, was quarried along the length of the Nile River, from Giza to just south of Luxor, and the Egyptians made its carved forms famous throughout the ancient world. A thousand years later, while less common than black-figure or red-figure techniques, the Greeks made vessels like this out of pottery and painted them with white clay pigment to imitate this beautiful stone.
Provenance: private Beverly Hills, California, USA collection; ex-private Zurich, Switzerland collection, since the 1970s
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#172384
Condition
Minor abrasions, otherwise intact and excellent. Wonderful surface smoothness and great stone coloration.