Sealing from a Jar with the Name of a king Amenhotep

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Egyptians used large pottery jars to store wine and other foodstuffs. These storage jars were closed by placing a reed mat, a cloth, or a small pottery dish over the mouth of the jar and then sealing it with mud. The jars were often opened by knocking off the neck. This sealing still has the neck of the jar inside. The outside of the mud sealing material was painted and stamped with an official seal. The oval inscriptions on the top read "the house of Amenhotep," probably referring to the palace of Amenhotep III at Malqata. The stamp on the side identifies the contents as a liquid called hedbet.

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