Egypt, Nagada II (Naqada), ca. 3500 to 3200 BCE. A heavy alabaster vessel with a conical form and a drilled interior. The neck flares outward to a wide rim. Alabaster was quarried along the length of the Nile, from Giza to just south of Luxor, and the Egyptians highly valued the stone for making jars and offering bowls. This example is almost entirely opaque aside from around the neck because it is so thick. Size: 4.3" W x 4.05" H (10.9 cm x 10.3 cm)

In the early Pre-Dynastic period, artisans hollowed out hard stone vessels using hand-held stone borders and abrasive desert sand. Then, during the Naqada II period (ca. 3600 to 3200 BCE), the invention of copper tubes used to drill very hard stone (in conjunction with sand as an abrasive), allowed people to drill finer forms - like the interior of this vessel. In the Naqada III period, people developed stone borers that allowed them to expand beyond a drilled channel, so the shape of this vessel suggests that its makers did not yet have access to that technology.

Provenance: private New Jersey, USA collection, acquired over twenty years ago

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#121496

Rim is chipped as shown.