These two alabaster vases have been carved to show a monkey with her offspring clinging to her. They are rare and precious examples of luxury items given by kings to favored individuals. They were designed to hold costly ointments that played a crucial role in temple and funerary rituals. These were a kind of solid perfume made of scent mixed in a fatty base. Look at the larger vessel. On its right shoulder the name of the sixth dynasty king Merenre is incised, while an inscription on the smaller vessel mentions his father, king Pepi I. This latter inscription also refers to a festival celebrating the rejuvenation of the king’s physical and spiritual power after thirty years of rule, which was called the Heb-Sed. Gifts of such luxury items to private individuals on occasions like the Heb-Sed drew the community together in celebration of the mystery of divine kingship, a concept lying at the core of Egyptian society. The vessels must have been prized both for their consummate cratsmanship and as tokens of royal preferment. And when their owners died, the vessels served as elite burial furnishings. Images of maternity were often used to symbolize rebirth and renewal. So the refined depiction of the loving bond between the mother and her offspring was particularly appropriate both for the king’s festival of renewal and for the tomb.