Painted Bowl from Tutankhamun's Embalming Cache

Painted Bowl from Tutankhamun's Embalming Cache

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Simple shallow bowls are a common type of vessel found among equipment placed in New Kingdom tombs. Such forms have a variety of uses and rituals requiring the offering of liquids often used decorated bowls of this shape. Because this vessel comes from Tutankhamun's embalming cache, it most likely had a ritual use. This bowl was reconstructed from a few surviving fragments, the exterior of which had thick bands of blue and red pigment, interspersed with thin black lines. Over many of these bands, an artisan had continued to use black to create a row of hanging lotus petals. On the interior, a circular band of blue pigment encircled a floral decoration. However, only several blue petals outlined in black, some with red details, survive from the original pattern.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Painted Bowl from Tutankhamun's Embalming CachePainted Bowl from Tutankhamun's Embalming CachePainted Bowl from Tutankhamun's Embalming CachePainted Bowl from Tutankhamun's Embalming CachePainted Bowl from Tutankhamun's Embalming Cache

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.