Lotiform chalice

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fragmentary cup, in the form of a partially open blue lotus flower, belongs to a group of glass vessels that belonged to three foreign wives of Thutmose III, the nephew and co-ruler of Hatshepsut. At this time, the art of glass manufacture was relatively new to Egypt, but the shape of the cup is typically Egyptian, suggesting that it was made in Egypt and not imported like another glass vessel from the same group (26.7.1175). The outer surface is engraved with a pattern of lotus petals, one of which is inscribed with the words "The Good God, Menkheperre, given life."

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