<em>Hes-Vase with Cover</em>, ca. 1350–1295 B.C.E. Faience, 8 1/16 x Diam. 2 3/16 in. (20.5 x 5.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.55a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 48.55a-b_SL1.jpg)

Hes-Vase with Cover, ca. 1350–1295 B.C.E. Faience, 8 1/16 x Diam. 2 3/16 in. (20.5 x 5.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.55a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 48.55a-b_SL1.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Wow. How did the vase get this rich blue color?

That is made of a really interesting material called faience, considered by Egyptologists as the first high-tech ceramic. The material is made of pure ground quartz, which has a dazzling, white look to it, which is why the ancient Egyptians called it tjehenet (dazzling). The quartz would have several other ingredients added to it; a small part of lime or calcium oxide and soda, all found in the rich desert sands and quarries in their landscape. These ingredients were either added to it before firing in the kiln, so that the beautiful blue would rise to the surface, or it would be put in a vessel of this powder so it would be coated from the outside while fired. Faience is glazed in many different shades of green and blue, which you'll see throughout the galleries.

Tell me more.

This is made of a really interesting, man-made material called faience. It was often used as an affordable imitation of precious stones like lapis lazuli and turquoise. The shape of the vessel is the same as the hieroglyph "hes" suggesting that it was for liquid offerings.

What is this made of?

It's a material called faience which is a quartz-based paste that has been molded and fired at a high temperature.

The bright and shiny surface treatment seen on this vessel 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. The very common bright blue color uses a copper oxide based pigment.

Hes-Vase with Cover

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor

Ritual vessels known as hes-vases were commonly used in temple rituals of purification and in libations, or liquid offerings, which the priest poured to the gods. Their shape resembles the hieroglyph hes, which can mean “to favor” or “to praise.”

MEDIUM Faience

Place Made: Thebes, Egypt

DATES ca. 1350–1295 B.C.E.

DYNASTY late Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 8 1/16 x Diam. 2 3/16 in. (20.5 x 5.6 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 48.55a-b

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Hes-Vase with Cover, ca. 1350–1295 B.C.E. Faience, 8 1/16 x Diam. 2 3/16 in. (20.5 x 5.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.55a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 48.55a-b_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 48.55a-b_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT 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.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Wow. How did the vase get this rich blue color?

Tell me more.

What is this made of?

It's a material called faience which is a quartz-based paste that has been molded and fired at a high temperature.