Fragment From Decorated Bowl

The cup is richly inlaid with copper, silver, and gold, with elaborate decoration: An elaborate lotus fills the center; in the outer register a series of pendant lotuses and cornflowers encircles composite plants, caprids, a leaping bovine, desert animals, and a pair of female sphinxes with wild hair; and the inner frieze is a swamp scene with flying ducks, a mongoose, and a man ferrying what might be a standing cow.


The owner of this decorated vessel most probably served in the cult of a goddess during the Ramesside period. His name—Sakawahikhana, which suggests foreign connections—in inscribed on a fragmentary bowl (1989.281.100) which is assumed to have come from the same find. The shape of this cup and of the other vessels from this find as well as their decoration indicate that they belonged to a wine service, like the jugs, jars, bottles, and situlae from Tell Basta (see for example 07.228.15 and .20).