Reconstructed lotiform chalice

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Made of faience glazed a rich turquoise, this goblet takes the shape of the fragrant blue lotus. Reconstructed from eight fragments, it would originally have stood on a slender column imitating the flower's stalk. (For a complete example, see 13.182.53.) This type of chalice, which is seen first in the New Kingdom, appears to have been used primarily as a cult vessel. Both the shape and the imagery of this chalice are closely linked with the themes of creation and rejuvenation. As the lotus blossom closes at night and opens at dawn to greet the rising sun, it became associated with the daily cycle of death and rebirth. The relief decoration is set in the marshes where the lotus bloomed, echoing the watery landscape of creation. The principal scene, repeated three times around the cup's circumference, shows a youthful king in the blue crown and festal collar seated on a throne, evoking myths of the king reborn as a child of the sun god. Below, the Nile god, Hapy, presents the king with palm ribs with "ankh" signs and "was" scepters, symbolizing many years of life and power; to either side are figures of Bes, a household deity, who offers "ankh" signs and "wedjat" eyes (emblems of healing and rejuvenation). A frieze of ducks in a papyrus marsh and a band of rosettes adorn the rim. Below are alternating images of tilapia fish and a cow suckling her calf, both potent icons of rebirth.

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