Fragment of a Vase Depicting Arsinoe II

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ptolemaic oinochoai (wine-jugs) with portraits of the queens were libation vessels associated with the royal cult, most likely with the Arsinoeia, the festival established in honor of Arsinoe II. On complete examples, the figure of the queen pours a libation at a sacrificial altar with a sacred pillar standing behind her, a scene which suggests that underworld gods are addressed, possibly funerary gods. The ritual use of faience and stylistic features are indicators of the influence of traditional Egyptian culture on the type. A good many fragments of such vessels are preserved, many from Alexandria, some from a few other sites in Egypt and from around the Mediterranean. They might have been distributed or purchased for use at the festival, and may well have acquired other uses, including a funerary association, since a number of examples were found in cemeteries. The type seems to extend from Arsinoe II in the first half of the 3rd century B.C. until the mid to late 2nd century B.C. This fragment, identified as Arsinoe II, based partly on similarities to her coin portaits, is considered by the expert in these objects to be the finest head of Arsinoe frrom such a vessel.

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