Egypt, New Kingdom, 1570 to 1070 BCE. This is a gorgeous example of an alabaster offering bowl with some red vein details. The alabaster is so fine that light passes through it in several areas. There is a finely carved hole in the base. 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 -- but 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 provision the dead during their time in the underworld. Size: 8" in diameter x 2-1/4" H (20.3 cm x 5.7 cm).

Provenance: Ex-private Simonian collection, Switzerland, before 1985.

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#110508

The piece has been repaired but the repair is very smooth and almost invisible, so the piece appears fully intact. There is very minor chipping.