Details

Object type

bowl

Place Associated

Africa, Egypt (place made)

Date

Naqada III (circa 3200-3000 BC)

Materials

limestone breccia

Dimensions

overall: 151 mm x 190 mm x 190 mm 1528 g

Description

This bowl is made of limestone breccia, a sedimentary rock with large angular fragments of limestone, which was frequently used from the Naqada 1 predynastic period until the fourth dynasty for vessels and other small objects. The rock would have been quarried from sites along the Nile valley and in the desert areas between Esna and el-Minya but only one ancient quarry site has been identified so far which is at Wadi Abu Gelbana. Comparison of the shape of this bowl with other dated examples suggests that this may have been made in the late predynastic period known as Naqada III between around 3200 BC and 3000 BC.

A bowl like this represents a significant amount of time and labour to first quarry the rock, then shape it using hammerstones and copper chisels before grinding and polishing the walls of the vessel to enhance the natural beauty of the rock.

Many stone vessels were made specifically for burial with the dead. Ancient Egyptian beliefs in the Afterlife required the deposition of grave goods for the dead to use in the next world. Although we do not know exactly where this was originally found in Egypt or who it belonged to, it must have been owned by an individual of high status in Egyptian society during the period before the unification of the country under the rule of the first pharaohs.

Provenance: Spink & Son, London; from where purchased by Sir William Burrell on 2 March 1948.

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944

Collection

Burrell Collection: Egyptian Items

ID Number

13.28

Location

Burrell Collection