C-Ware – elliptical bowl C-0171
By Droux, Xavier
, Nag el-Alawna, Tomb L209.
1900–1901 : Egyptian Research Account excavation.Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, AN 1896-1908 E.2785.
Date : Naqada IA–IIB
General range of C-ware production
Material : Nile silt (Painted)
Preservation : Complete, repaired
Decoration preservation : Good
Decoration
Two hippopotamuses face each other. Their bodies are filled with small curved lines, and their muzzles with parallel straight lines. The incisors of one of the hippopotamuses are protruding from its mouth. This animal is also harpooned in the backside. A man wearing a penis sheath (?) holds the rope of the harpoon. Two other humans with raised arms, likely men, are represented on the opposite side of the vessel. Two turtles are located in the centre. Two stems of common reed are painted above the hippopotami.
Between the man holding the harpoon and one of the men with raised arms is a group of eight "M-shaped" wavy lines. On the other side of the men with raised arms is a complex motif consisting of a downturned triangle filled with chevrons above a group of seven wavy lines. It is possible that together they represent another plant motif.
Dimensions (cm)
11.1
19.3
17.5
Additional information
Open
Vi 174
direct
on four feet
Inside
Comments
In Lankester (2016), the illustration does not correspond to the text description.
References
1903
Mahâsna and Bêt Khallâf. Egyptian research account, 7th year, 1901. London
, 5, pl. III, 1, 2.1920
Prehistoric Egypt. British School of Archaeology in Egypt & Egyptian Research Account, twenty-third year, 1917. London
, pl. XXXIII, 1.1921
Corpus of prehistoric pottery and palettes. British School of Archaeology in Egypt & Egyptian Research Account 32, 23rd year, 1917. London
, pl. XX, 5S.1952
Manuel d'archéologie égyptienne I: 1; les époques de formation, la préhistoire. Paris
, 282–3, fig. 189.1968
Ancient Egyptian representations of turtles. Metropolitan Museum Occasional Papers 13. New York
, 21, no. (2), fig. 15b.1980
Regional painting style in prehistoric Egypt. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 107
, 118, fig. 3.1989
Das Nilpferd in der Vorstellungswelt der alten Ägypter. Teil I, Katalog. Europäische Hochschulschriften VIII, 22. Frankfurt am Main
, doc. 23b.1993
Catalogue of the predynastic Egyptian collection in the Ashmolean Museum. Oxford
, 58, cat. 389, fig. 27.2002
Decorated sherds from renewed excavations at Locality 6, Hierakonpolis. Cahiers Caribéens d'Egyptologie 3–4
, 10.2004
A theriomorphic predynastic stone jar and hippopotamus symbolism, in: Hendrickx, Stan; Friedman, Renée; Ciałowicz, Krzysztof M.; Chłodnicki, Marek (eds), Egypt at its origins: studies in memory of Barbara Adams; proceedings of the International Conference "Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt", Kraków, 28th August–1st September 2002. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 138. Leuven
.2009
Les peintures sur vases de Nagada I–Nagada II: nouvelle approche sémiologique de l'iconographie prédynastique. Egyptian Prehistory Monographs 6. Leuven
, cat. 98.2015
Riverine and desert animals in predynastic Upper Egypt: material culture and faunal remains. Dphil thesis, University of Oxford. Oxford
, cat. 1.33.2015
De la figure anthropomorphe prédynastique à l’émergence de l’image de Pharaon: pour une approche transversale de l’imagerie pré- et protodynastique égyptienne (Nagada I-Nagada III, 3900-2700 av. J.-C.). Archéologie et Préhistoire. PHD thesis, University of Strasbourg. Strasbourg
, 1358, ref. VC_MAH_001.2016
Egyptian script and rock-art: connected or Unconnected? Ecriture égyptienne et art rupestre: connectés ou non?, in: Graff, Gwenola, Jiménez Serrano, Alejandro (eds.), Préhistoires de l'écriture: iconographie, pratiques graphiques et émergence de l'écrit dans l'Egypte prédynastique; Prehistories of writing: iconography, graphic practices and emergence of writing in Predynastic Egypt. Préhistoires de la Méditerranée. Aix-en-Provence
, 31-2, fig. 3.2021
The conqueror of the riverline: on a four-legged white Cross-lined predynastic bowl from the Museo Egizio (S.1825), Turin. Archéo-Nil 31
, 33–4, fig. 5a.2021
Chiefs, bound captives, and harpooned hippopotamuses: an exceptional unpublished C-ware vessel in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (inv. 900.2.13). Archéo-Nil 31
, 48, table 2, no. 9.2021
A hippopotamus in a dish: Predynastic bowl Cairo Museum JE 85928 and aspects of hippopotamus symbolism in predynastic Egypt, in: Buchez, N. & Tristant, Y. (eds.), Rochecouste, O. (coll.), Égypte Antérieure. Mélanges de préhistoire et d’archéologie offerts à Béatrix Midant-Reynes par ses étudiants, collègues et amis, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 304. Leuven
, 304, note 7.