C-Ware – elliptical bowl C-0109
By Droux, Xavier
, Archaeological context unknown. Gift William C. Hayes.Princeton, University Art Museum, y1930-491.
Date : Naqada IA–IIB
General range of C-ware production
Material : Nile silt (Painted)
Preservation : Almost complete
Decoration preservation : Partially faded
Preservation information :
Small chip at one of the narrow ends.
Decoration
The vessel’s long sides are each decorated with a double-series of filled in triangles. In one case, six triangles pointing upward are mirrored by six similar triangles pointing downward. In the other series, which also contains six triangles pointing upward, only two triangles are pointing downward, situated each at an end of the row, thus leaving space for the animals depicted at the centre of the vessel. The paint is poorly preserved, but a Barbary sheep, with diverging curved horns and a chest mane can be identified. It faces right, its body is cross-hatched, and it has a long tail ending with a tassel of hair. Three dogs are attacking the Barbary sheep. One is in front of it, and two above it. The dogs have short upturned tails and their bodies are cross-hatched. Dots painted at their throats probably depict a knot for attaching their leash.
Dimensions (cm)
5.5
19.8
13.1
19.8
Additional information
Open
Vi 360
Oi 100
direct
round base
Inside
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Michael Padgett for facilitating the study of this artefact in summer 2011.
References
1953
Prehistoric Egyptian pottery in the Art Museum. Princeton University, Record of the Art Museum 12
, 76–8, figs. 1E, 2E, 3A, 4A.2009
Les peintures sur vases de Nagada I–Nagada II: nouvelle approche sémiologique de l'iconographie prédynastique. Egyptian Prehistory Monographs 6. Leuven
, cat. 22.2015
Riverine and desert animals in predynastic Upper Egypt: material culture and faunal remains. Dphil thesis, University of Oxford. Oxford
, cat. 1.26.2018
Hunting for power: an exceptional white cross-lined jar in the National Museum of Denmark. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 74
, 89, Table 1A, no. 7.2021
Found in a cellar, but from Naqada? A new predynastic hunting scene on a C-ware fragment from the Garstang Museum of Archaeology, Liverpool, in: Claes, Wouter; De Meyer, Marleen; Eyckerman, Merel; Huyge, Derek † (eds), Remove the pyramid! Studies on the archaeology and history of predynastic and pharaonic Egypt in honour of Stan Hendrickx. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 305. Leuven
, 396–398, fig. 3c.
