Category:
Containers and related objects, vessels, figured vessels
Date:
Ancient Egyptian period, Late Period (664-332 BCE)
Provenance:
Lower Egypt, Alexandria, Nelson Island
Material(s):
Man made material, pottery (terracotta)
Height:
12.5 cm;
Diameter:
8.5 cm
Hall:
Nelson Island Collection, showcase 34
Description
Vase bearing the features of god Bes
Applied Ornaments
The technique of applying decorative elements to the exterior of the vessel, always done before it was fired, was used intermittently from the Archaic Period onwards, becoming more common from the Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 BCE). The elements were either fashioned by hand, from pieces of clay, or formed in moulds. During the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BCE), jars appeared with small, often crude, mould-made or finger-modeled faces attached to the rim, and which had arms on the neck and upper body. However, more elaborate decoration can be seen on vessels to represent god Bes during that period, either depicting only his head, with leonine features and mane; or his head and dwarf-like body. A combination of applied, painted and modeled techniques was applied. Bes vases executed in these techniques were manufactured throughout the Third Intermediate Period (1069-664 BCE), and the Late Period (664-332 BCE).
The information given here is subject to modification/update as a result of ongoing research.
References
- Colin A. Hope, Egyptian Pottery, Shire Egyptology 5 (Aylesbury: Shire, 1987).
- Mona Serry, ed., Bibliotheca Alexandrina: Antiquities Museum, introduction by Ismail Serageldin (Alexandria: Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Antiquities Museum, 2015): 262, 335.