Jar of Pepi I

Jar of Pepi I

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The thick walls of stone vessels helped to keep cool the valuable cosmetic oils and ointments they frequently held, and their exquisite workmanship and high quality underlined the precious nature of the contents. The inscription on this vase refers to the first hebsed (a royal renewal festival celebrated ideally at 30 years of reign) of Pepi I. The name of a queen (Mery-re, perhaps short for Ankhnesmeryre, the name of two known wives) has been added secondarily below.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jar of Pepi IJar of Pepi IJar of Pepi IJar of Pepi IJar of Pepi I

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.