Amphoriskos with molded design of Harpokrates and eagles

Amphoriskos with molded design of Harpokrates and eagles

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Light ground relief vessels of this nature begin to be made in the 3rd century B.C. This example depicts Harpokrates, possibly standing on the thunderbolt, between two eagles. Little is known about their use context, but recently relief ceramics have been found in a terracotta workshop at Athribis dated to the time of Ptolemy IV (222-204 B.C.); the workshop seemed to serve an area of baths attached to a sacral structure, now missing.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Amphoriskos with molded design of Harpokrates and eaglesAmphoriskos with molded design of Harpokrates and eaglesAmphoriskos with molded design of Harpokrates and eaglesAmphoriskos with molded design of Harpokrates and eaglesAmphoriskos with molded design of Harpokrates and eagles

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.