Bottle in the Shape of a Pomegranate

Pomegranate juice was prized as a drink, but it can also be used as an astringent to shrink tissues and reduce swelling in wounds. This jar depicts the fruit in its unripened state, when the juice is too sour to drink, and may have juice intended for medicinal purposes. Another jar in the collection (26.7.1180) probably held juice for consumption as a drink.

The pomegranate did not arrive in Egypt until the beginning of the New Kingdom, when it was probably brought back from western Asia during the military campaigns of the early Eighteenth Dynasty. While the fruit may initially have been available only as an import, pomegranate trees were soon planted in Egyptian gardens.

The attributes of the fruit served as the point of departure for an elegant, stylized vessel shape with a scalloped rim. Pomegranates in nature can range from green to yellow to red, so the choices for these vessels are not unrealistic. The juice was prized as a drink and often added to wine, but it can also be used as an astringent to shrink tissues and reduce swelling in wounds.