Ancient Egypt, New Kingdom, 18th to 20th Dynasty, ca. 1550 to 1070 BCE. A fabulous pair of petite hand-carved alabaster bowls with naturally creamy white and pink hues. The first is a shallow dish, with a rounded base and a wide, flat rim. The other is a bowl with walls that flare upward to a thick rim. These miniature bowls may have been intended as grave goods for the deceased to carry food or offerings to the afterlife. Size dish: 3.375" W x .5" H (8.6 cm x 1.3 cm); bowl: 2.875" W x .875" H (7.3 cm x 2.2 cm)
Alabaster was quarried along the length of the Nile, from Giza to just south of Luxor. Offering bowls like these 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; however, 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 vessels, often of the highest quality. These vessels were necessary to provide for the deceased during their time in the afterlife.
Provenance: private San Francisco, California, USA collection, acquired 1970s to 2000
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#142306
Condition
Nicks and chips to rims. Minor age commensurate surface abrasions and light pitting. Nice natural stone inclusions and light mineral deposits.