Category:
Containers and related objects, vessels, oenochoe
Date:
Ancient Egyptian period, Late Period (664-332 BCE)
Provenance:
Lower Egypt, Alexandria, Nelson Island
Material(s):
Man made material, pottery (terracotta)
Height:
16.6 cm;
Diameter:
11.6 cm
Hall:
Nelson Island Collection, showcase 34
Description
An Egyptian Oinochoe (Wine Jug)
Ancient Egyptian Pottery in its Late Stages
The pottery of the last 700 years before the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great is among the least defined of all, though studies of material from several sites are in progress to clarify the picture. Pottery was classified into two phases according to material, one extending from the Twenty-First Dynasty to the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty; and another from the Twenty-Sixth to the Thirty-First Dynasties, which extends into the Ptolemaic Period.
During the first of these phases, the pottery resembles that of the Late New Kingdom, though painted decoration disappeared almost completely, and marl clay was less commonly used. During the second phase, vessels made from marl clay were manufactured in greater abundance and new shapes developed, some of which were inspired by vessels imported from the Mediterranean countries, particularly Greece.
The information given here is subject to modification/update as a result of ongoing research.
References
- R. M. Cook, Greek Painted Pottery (London: Routledge, 1997).
- 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): 263, 335.