|
This delightfully small, cylindrically-shaped,
faience beaker exhibits a slightly everted mouth,
a disc-shaped lip and a protruding off-set foot.
There are two columns of hieroglyphs of a lighter
turquoise-blue color set into a rectangular frame
on one side of the rich, darker blue colour of the
vessel itself. Although the hieroglyphs are
somewhat faded and some of the signs within
the cartouche, or royal ring, are indistinct, the
traces of what remain suggest that the cartouche
contains the name of one of the kings of Dynasty
XIX, and these remains plausibly suggest that
that name may have been one of the forms of
the prenomen of Sety I, the decoration of whose
tomb in the Valley of the Kings ranks among the
dynasty’s finest.
The Lord of the Two Lands [is the pharaoh] Sety
I, who is the one beloved of the god Sokar
Such beakers were extremely popular during
Dynasty XVIII and variations continued to be
created into the Third Intermediate Period and
beyond. It is assumed that these vessels were
funerary in nature. That suggestion is supported
by the mention of the god Sokar on our example
because Sokar was originally a funerary deity
worshipped at Memphis whose cult was later
assimilated into that of Osiris. The two-tone
blue color of the faience itself reinforces the
funerary symbolism of the vessel because of the
associations of that colour with both resurrection
and rebirth. It is assumed that such beakers,
because of their small size, originally contained
precious unguents and balms which were
associated with the funerary cults of the
deceased. Although ostensibly inscribed with the
name of Sety I, our vessel was not necessarily
part of his own funerary equipment. Objects such
as this might also have been dedicated in
sanctuaries for the continued well-being of the
dedicator in the Hereafter.
References:
There is a virtually identical example in the
famed Miho Museum in Japan which bears the
prenomen of Sety I, and forms the basis for our
proposed reconstruction of the hieroglyhphs
within the cartouche of our example: Sidney
Merrill Goldstein, Ancient Glass (Miho Museum
2001, page 192, catalogue number 18. Ian Shaw
and Paul Nicholson, British Museum Dictionary of
Ancient Egypt (London 1995), pages 273-274,
for a discussion of the god Sokar; and R. S.
Bianchi, in Florence D. Friedman (editor), Gifts of
the Nile. Ancient Egyptian Faience (Providence
1998), page 198, catalogue number 57, for a
discussion of the type.
- (X.0507)
|
