AN EGYPTIAN BANDED ALABASTER JAR DYNASTY I-III, CIRCA 3100-2613 B.C.

拍品描述

AN EGYPTIAN BANDED ALABASTER JAR, DYNASTY I-III, CIRCA 3100-2613 B.C. Of slender ovoid form, rising from a narrow rounded base through a tapering body to a constricted neck and a wide, flat, disc-shaped rim. Two small lug handles project from the shoulder, pierced vertically for suspension. The stone is a warm honey-gold calcite, often termed Egyptian alabaster, with subtle banding visible in the translucent body and darker veining running through the lower portion. The surface retains a soft polish, with traces of earthen deposits around the handles and rim. The form belongs to the canonical repertoire of Early Dynastic stone vessels, in which the body is reduced to a continuous tapering line and ornament is confined to the function of the lug handles and the emphatic horizontal accent of the rim. The vessel would have been suspended by cords passed through the pierced lugs, a practical feature carried over from earlier pottery prototypes and translated into stone with no loss of clarity. The interior is hollowed through the narrow neck, a labour-intensive process achieved by abrasive drilling with reed and quartz sand. Calcite was quarried principally at Hatnub in Middle Egypt and at Wadi Gerrawi, and its working was closely associated with royal and elite production from the earliest dynasties. The stone was prized for its translucency, its capacity to take a high polish, and its association with ritual purity. Vessels of this material are found in large numbers in the subterranean galleries beneath the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, where tens of thousands of stone vessels, many of them inherited from earlier reigns, were deposited as part of the king's funerary equipment. Smaller jars of the present type held precious oils, unguents, and cosmetics, the seven sacred oils being among the standard offerings recorded in funerary texts of the Old Kingdom and earlier. The Early Dynastic period saw the technical apogee of Egyptian stone vessel production. The forms achieved at this date, before the rise of the great pyramid complexes, were never surpassed in refinement, and the discipline of the silhouette here, with the disc rim providing the only horizontal counterpoint to the long curve of the body, is characteristic of the moment. This jar exemplifies the restraint of Early Dynastic calcite vessel production, in which the qualities of the stone itself, its translucency, banding, and capacity for fine polish, are allowed to carry the object without applied ornament. The form is reduced to essentials and the workmanship is confident throughout, marking the type as one of the defining achievements of pharaonic craft in its formative phase. Height: 10.5cm

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