Ancient Egypt, Old Kingdom, 3rd to 6th Dynasty, ca. 2686 to 2181 BCE. A beautiful bowl carved from a sizable piece of alabaster stone with thick walls. The vessel is formed with a slightly flat base that swells upward to a broad shoulder and corseted neck. The wide rim flares outward from the hollow interior. The alabaster is a lovely warm beige hue that has areas that illuminate when held up to the light. The exterior exhibits a fine polishing that brings out the lustrous sheen and natural opaque white veining. A bowl made from alabaster, a treasured material, suggests it was commissioned for an individual of wealth and status. Size: 6" Diameter x 3" H (15.2 cm x 7.6 cm)

Alabaster, which is a form of gypsum or calcite, soft to carve and smooth, was quarried along the length of the Nile, from Giza to just south of Luxor, and the Egyptians made its carved forms famous throughout the ancient world. A thousand years later, the Greeks made vessels like this out of pottery and painted them white in imitation of the beautiful stone.

Provenance: ex-private Henderson collection, Los Angeles, California, USA; ex-private London, England collection, acquired on other London art market prior to 2000

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#164438

Repaired and restored from four large pieces. Visible break lines and traces of adhesive along fissures. Losses to rim are restored, with infill within cavities and break lines. Chip and abrasion to rim. Pretty natural stone veining and polished surface.