Marsh-Bowl
New Kingdom
Shallow open bowls made of faience were popular in the early Eighteenth Dynasty as temple offerings and tomb furnishings. On the outside, the bowls are almost invariably decorated with the petals and sepals of the blue lotus. The flower of the blue lotus opens in the morning and closes at night making it a powerful symbol of regeneration, a common theme in Egyptian art. On the inside, many bowls, have aquatic motifs, like this one. Here, there are eight fully open lotus blossoms and eight buds, their stems growing from a rectangular pool in the center. The bowl was found in the tomb of Hatnefer inside one of the subsidiary coffins. This coffin contained the mummies of two women and two young children. The bowl had been placed at the foot end of the coffin with a number of other objects now in the Museum's collection. These include two faience dishes, a circular wood box, two mirrors, and five cowrie-shaped amulets.
For a bowl of the same type, but decorated in a very different style, click here.
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