AN EGYPTIAN ALABASTER POT NEW KINGDOM, DYNASTY XVIII, 1550-1307 B.C.

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AN EGYPTIAN ALABASTER POT, NEW KINGDOM, DYNASTY XVIII, 1550-1307 B.C. Of tapering conical form, rising from a small rounded base to a broad, flat shoulder pierced by a central circular aperture, with a projecting lug or spout at one side of the rim. The vessel is carved from a banded calcite-alabaster of pale honey and cream tones, traversed by darker horizontal veining in caramel and greyish-brown that follows the natural bedding of the stone. The exterior retains a soft polish, with earthen encrustation gathered in the recesses around the mouth and along the base. The interior cavity, drilled from the top, is narrow relative to the mass of the stone. The form belongs to the family of small stone containers used in ancient Egypt for costly liquids and semi-solid substances: unguents, scented oils, kohl, and resinous preparations. The disproportion between the modest interior chamber and the substantial body is characteristic of such vessels, where the weight and coolness of the stone served both to preserve the contents and to signal their value. The projecting lug at the rim would have assisted in pouring or in the attachment of a cord for securing a stopper of stone, wood, or linen. The material itself is central to the object's meaning. What is conventionally called Egyptian alabaster is in fact travertine or calcite, quarried principally at Hatnub in Middle Egypt and at sites in the Eastern Desert under direct royal control. Its translucency, its cool touch, and its association with purity made it the preferred stone for ritual and cosmetic vessels from the Old Kingdom onward, and it appears in temple furnishings, canopic containers, and funerary equipment of the highest status. During the Eighteenth Dynasty, the working of calcite reached a technical peak, with lathe-turned and hand-finished vessels produced in quantity for elite burials at Thebes and elsewhere, including the celebrated deposits from the reigns of Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, and Tutankhamun. Small vessels of this type were placed among grave goods to accompany the deceased with the substances required for the rituals of purification and anointing that structured the afterlife. The banded striations visible on the present example, far from being a flaw, were prized by Egyptian craftsmen, who oriented the stone so that its veining would articulate the horizontal registers of the form. This vessel exemplifies the domestic and funerary use of calcite-alabaster in the Eighteenth Dynasty, when the material's ritual associations and its practical suitability for the storage of precious oils combined in objects of restrained, functional elegance. Its small scale and asymmetric spouted rim place it within the working repertoire of New Kingdom cosmetic and unguent containers rather than among the grander ceremonial pieces, and it survives as a characteristic witness to that tradition. Dimensions: Height: 5.5cm

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