Egypt, Late Dynastic Period, 26th to 31st Dynasty, ca. 664 to 332 BCE. A hand-carved alabaster mortar and pestle that both show extensive use. The mortar exhibits a planar base above the inverted, bell-shaped body, with a pair of lug handles protruding from the rim. The pestle is of lozenge form with the thick end as the handle and the grinding end tapered and conical, perhaps intended to represent a human finger. Mortars and pestles like these examples were used for a variety of utilitarian tasks - including dehusking hulled wheat, making pastes for construction, grinding ingredients for pharmaceuticals or cosmetic material, and pulverizing other foodstuffs - throughout ancient Egyptian history with examples being found in known burial sites at Deir el-Medina and Amarna. Size (mortar): 5.3" W x 2.8" H (13.5 cm x 7.1 cm); (pestle): 3.25" L x 1.25" W (8.3 cm x 3.2 cm)

Exhibited in the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFFMA), California State University, San Bernardino from 2007 to 2023, reference number EL01.003.2007.

A similar example hammered for $8,750 at Christie's, New York "Antiquities" auction (sale 2605, December 5, 2012, lot 135).

Provenance: Collection of Dr. W. Benson Harer, Los Angeles, California, USA, purchased in January 1978 at Superior Galleries, Los Angeles, California, USA; Exhibited in the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFFMA), California State University, San Bernardino from 2007 to 2023, reference number EL01.003.2007

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#178989

Mortar with age-commensurate chips, abrasions, and darkening to stone, and only minor abrasions and use-commensurate wear to both ends, otherwise both are intact and excellent. Wonderful surface smoothness and wear patterns on pestle, and great surface smoothness inside mortar basin indicative of extensive use.