Ancient Egypt, Late Dynastic Period, ca. 664 to 525 BCE. A faience flask with baboons flanking the neck and a light blue faience glaze. There is a vertical band around the body, which in some other examples is inscribed with New Year's wishes. Around the shoulder are incised decorative bands, one in circles, and the other in a waviform pattern. The underside of the rim and the neck are also highly decorated with incised designs. These mold made flasks, famous from late Egyptian contexts, were first described by the famous early archaeologist and Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, who found and excavated a great deal of fragmentary ones at Naukratis. This one, with its pale turquoise glaze, may also be from there (others are apple green). These flasks were offered as a gift around July 19th, when the Egyptian New Year's festival took place. That baboon, as a form of Thoth, is associated with the calculation of time and with the renewal of royal power. It is not currently known what contents they were made to hold - some have suggested cosmetics, but others believe they may also have been made to hold the waters of the flooded Nile. Size: 5.75" W x 7.95" H (14.6 cm x 20.2 cm)

Provenance: Ex-Private FL collection

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#117512

Repaired from half a dozen pieces, minor losses to rim.