C-Ware – squat beaker C-0236
By Droux, Xavier
Archaeological site unknown.
1912 : Purchased in Egypt from Ghirgis and Abd el-Nour Ghabriel.New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, MMA 12.182.14.
Date : Naqada IA–IIB
General range of C-ware production
Material : Nile silt (Painted)
Preservation : Almost complete
Decoration preservation : Very good
Preservation information :
Repaired from several sherds; one sherd missing at rim.
Decoration
A series of groups of three short oblique strokes runs around the rim of the vessel, both on the interior and exterior surfaces.
On the outside, below, two long vertical plants, probably the common reeds, divide the surface into two halves. On one side, four hippopotamuses facing left are depicted. Their ears and eyes are represented by small protuberances and their bodies are filled with chevrons. On the other side, two series of three crocodiles are represented horizontally, above each other. The three to the right face right, and those to the left face left, except the crocodile at the bottom, which is represented head to tail. All the crocodiles are seen in top view with flexed legs, with realistically-shaped heads with the eyes shown, and dots on their sides and tails indicating the scales of the hide. Their bodies are cross-hatched.
Another plant is depicted behind the group of hippopotamuses: it consists of a long, vertical stem with short, straight leaves on either sides.
Dimensions (cm)
17.5
19.6
19.6
Additional information
Open
Vi 112
Oi 100
flat base
Outside and inside lip
References
1980
Regional painting style in prehistoric Egypt. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 107
, 119-20, fig. 7.1989
Das Nilpferd in der Vorstellungswelt der alten Ägypter. Teil I, Katalog. Europäische Hochschulschriften VIII, 22. Frankfurt am Main
, doc. 24e.1990
The Scepter of Egypt. A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Part I. From the earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. New York
, 18, fig. 9 (2nd row, right).1998
Peaux d'animaux comme symboles prédynastiques: à propos de quelques représentations sur les vases White Cross-lined. Chronique d'Egypte 73
, 209, n. 12; 210, n. 14.
