Lentoid Bottle ("New Year's Bottle")

Lentoid Bottle ("New Year's Bottle")

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This flask was purchased with a bronze neck and handles attached that were later determined not to belong to the piece; it would originally have had a short neck, perhaps in the shape of a papyrus or lotus column, with two handles or heraldic animals (see, for example, 10.130.2016). A floral garland is depicted around the shoulder, and a single column of inscription on one side references the New Year's festival. It is of a type known as a "New Year's Bottle," thought to have been filled with water from the Nile and given as a gift.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lentoid Bottle ("New Year's Bottle")Lentoid Bottle ("New Year's Bottle")Lentoid Bottle ("New Year's Bottle")Lentoid Bottle ("New Year's Bottle")Lentoid Bottle ("New Year's Bottle")

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.