Ointment Jar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although the form changed slightly from one period to the next, ointment jars that flare out from base to rim had been used by the Egyptians since the Pyramid Age, more than 1000 years before this jar was made. Made of serpentine, it probably held a substance that could be used to moisturize the skin. The jar was excavated by the Museum's Egyptian Expedition in 1916. It had been placed near the head of a coffin along with a number of other objects that came to the Museum when the finds were divided with the Egyptian Antiquities Service. These include three jars of Egyptian alabaster (16.10.421, 16.10.423–.424), two pottery vessels (16.10.427–.428), and a small ivory cosmetic box (16.10.425), and three ivory combs (16.10.428–.430).

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