C-Ware – bottle, broad neck C-0345
By Droux, Xavier
Archaeological site unknown.
Before 1997–2016 : Collection Elsa and Pierre Henri Bloch-Diener (Bern, CH).Basel, Antikenmuseum und Sammlung Ludwig, LgAe BDE 04.
Date : Naqada IA–IIB
General range of C-ware production
Material : Nile silt (Painted)
Preservation : Intact
Decoration preservation : Very good
Decoration
Four antelopes and two dogs are painted on the upper part of the vessel; they follow one another and all face right. One ibex, with strongly backward-curving horns, is attacked by a dog biting its front legs. The three antelopes to the left are depicted in the same manner, with short straight horns or ears, and short tails. The details do not allow for a definitive identification of the intended species. A vertical zigzag of three parallel lines is painted above the back of the second antelope after the ibex, and a tassel design above the back of the third one. A dog bites the backside of the last antelope, and can be understood to be chasing the whole group. A couple of chevrons decorate the bodies of all the antelopes, but not those of the dogs. The dogs have short straight ears pointing to the back, and short upturned tails. There are two downturned crosshatched triangles painted below the rim, and four upturned ones emerging from the white-filled lower part of the vessel.
Dimensions (cm)
18.6
7.1
7.1
Additional information
Closed
Vi 38
Oi 100
flat base
Outside
Acknowledgements
We thank André Wiese for facilitating the study of this artefact.
References
1997
Ägypten, Augenblicke der Ewigkeit: unbekannte Schätze aus Schweizer Privatbesitz. Exhibition catalogue, Antikenmuseum Basel. Mainz & Basel
, 22–3, cat. 4A.2001
Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig: die ägyptische Abteilung. Sonderbände der Antiken Welt. Mainz am Rhein
, 28, cat. 3a.2009
Les peintures sur vases de Nagada I–Nagada II: nouvelle approche sémiologique de l'iconographie prédynastique. Egyptian Prehistory Monographs 6. Leuven
, cat. 147.2015
Riverine and desert animals in predynastic Upper Egypt: material culture and faunal remains. Dphil thesis, University of Oxford. Oxford
, cat. 1.51.2021
Chiefs, bound captives, and harpooned hippopotamuses: an exceptional unpublished C-ware vessel in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (inv. 900.2.13).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
, 50–3, fig. 9d, table 3, no. 5.2021
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
, 394, table 1.
