Collection
/
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Model Offering Vase

ca. 1938–1539 B.C.E.

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Brooklyn Museum photograph

1 of 3

Object Label

This model vessel reproduce the form of the hieroglyph hes. The hes-sign forms the root for several words, including both "favored one "an epithet applied to the blessed dead—and "repulse" or "turn away." These vessels acted as three-dimensional hieroglyphs, conveying both the deceased's special status and the wish to ward off evil after death.

Caption

Model Offering Vase, ca. 1938–1539 B.C.E.. Faience, 4 5/8 × Diam. 1 3/8 in. (11.7 × 3.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 11.680a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.11.680a-b_NegID_L1007_20.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Model Offering Vase

Date

ca. 1938–1539 B.C.E.

Dynasty

Dynasty 12 to Dynasty 17

Period

Middle Kingdom to Second Intermediate Period

Geography

Place made: Egypt

Medium

Faience

Classification

Vessel

Dimensions

4 5/8 × Diam. 1 3/8 in. (11.7 × 3.5 cm)

Credit Line

Museum Collection Fund

Accession Number

11.680a-b

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • Could you tell me how faience was made?

    Faience is a man-made mixture of "ground quartz or quartz-sand held together by and alkaline binder. The bright and shiny surface seen on this figurine is a result of glazing. The glaze was made of a form of powdered glass mixed with a liquid and applied either with a brush or by dipping the entire figurine.
    It gets it's blue color from copper that is mixed into or applied to the surface of the quartz body before firing.

  • What are these made from?

    Those are made from faience. Faience is a material that is formed from a quartz based paste, that can be molded or shaped in a number of ways and then fired.
    You'll see a lot of faience in ancient Egyptian artwork. The shiny, usually blue or green surface is a glaze made of powdered glass and mineral pigments mixed with liquid and applied to the surface, or else is made by mixing mineral pigment into the faience paste itself. This blue color is created with copper oxide.
    Almost like clay?
    The material is fired like clay, yes, though it is formed differently. It is a human made mixture of ground quartz and an alkaline binder, and occasionally lime.

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