Perfume bottle in the shape of a hes-vase inlaid with the figure of a princess

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The shape of this perfume bottle imitates that of a ritual vessel used for water libations. Inlaid on its side is a marvel of lapidary skill-a little Amarna princess standing on a blossom of the blue lotus, a species that opens anew each morning with the rising sun. For an Egyptian, the child and the flower would have been a powerful image of rebirth and rejuvenation.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art