Inscribed with the name of Merenre I, fourth king of Dynasty 6. This charming composition alludes to motherhood and fertility and also to the exotic lands that provided rare ingredients for the oils and unguents contained in these vases. The contents were presumably believed to have rejuvenating effects.
Inscriptions on this and similar vases (1992.338) suggest that the vessels were given by Sixth Dynasty kings to favored courtiers, particularly women, at the time of the king's jubilee.
#3265. Two Vases in the Shape of a Mother Monkey with her Young
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Artwork Details
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Title:Vase in the Shape of Mother Monkey with Her Young
Period:Old Kingdom
Dynasty:Dynasty 6
Reign:reign of Merenre I
Date:ca. 2255–2246 B.C.
Geography:From Egypt
Medium:Travertine (Egyptian alabaster), paint, resin and pigment
Dimensions:H. 18.6 × W. 6.5 × D. 7.6 cm (7 5/16 × 2 9/16 × 3 in.)
Credit Line:Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915
Accession Number:30.8.134
nswt-bj.tj mr-n-raw anx(.w) D.t King of Upper and Lower Egypt Merenre, may he live forever
Formerly Theodore M. Davis Collection. Bequeathed to the Museum by Davis, 1915; accessioned, 1930.
Winlock, Herbert E. 1935. Private Life of the Ancient Egyptians. New York, fig. 14.
Scott, Nora E. 1944. Home Life of the Ancient Egyptians: A Picture Book. New York: Plantin Press, fig. 25.
Hayes, William C. 1953. Scepter of Egypt I: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge, Mass.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 128, fig. 78.
Dorman, Peter F., Prudence Harper, and Holly Pittman 1987. Egypt and the Ancient Near East. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 20, n.9.
Arnold, Dorothea 1993. "Recent Acquisitions, a Selection: 1992-1993: Ancient World." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new ser., vol. 51, no. 2 (Autumn), pp. 6–7.
Arnold, Dorothea 1995. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new ser., vol. 52, no. 4 (Spring), New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 59, no. 80.
Arnold, Dorothea 1999. "Three Vases in the Shape of Mother Monkeys and Their Young." In Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 446–47, no. 178A.
Arnold, Dorothea and Elena Pischikova 1999. "Stone Vessels: Luxury Item with Manifold Implications." In Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 120, 123–25, 128.
Arnold, Dorothea 2010. "Gefäss in Form einer Affenmutter mit Kind." In Falken, Katzen, Krokodile: Tiere im Alten Ägypten: Aus den Sammlungen des Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, und des Ägyptischen Museums Kairo, edited by Dorothea Arnold. Zurich: Museum Rietberg, pp. 96–97, no. 107.
Scott, Gerry D. 2015. "An Old Kingdom Monkey Vase in the Collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art." In The Art and Culture of Ancient Egypt: Studies in Honor of Dorothea Arnold, edited by Adela Oppenheim and Ogden Goelet. Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar, vol. 19, p. 587 and n15.
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