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Calice

Third Intermediate Period
ca. 945–664 B.C.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 125
Les vases à boire sur pied en faïence, avec une coupe en forme de fleur de lotus bleu, existaient dès la XVIIIe dynastie (v. 1550 – 1295 av. J.-C.). Au début du premier millénaire av. J.-C., les vases de ce type avaient évolué pour devenir des calices richement ornementés dont on se servait comme objets votifs ou récipients rituels et non plus utilitaires. Les reliefs de cette pièce évoquent le mythe de la naissance du roi en tant que fils du dieu soleil. Les marécages au centre du tableau font allusion au renouveau du monde égyptien après les crues estivales annuelles du Nil.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Titre: Calice
  • Période: IIIe période intermédiaire, XXIIe dynastie
  • Date: v. 945–712 av. J.-C.
  • Aire géographique: Région de Tuna el-Gebel
  • Technique: Faïence
  • Dimensions: H. 14,5 cm
  • Crédits: Achat, don de Edward S. Harkness, 1926
  • Accession Number: 26.7.971
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

Audio

Uniquement disponible en: English
Cover Image for 3485. Overview: Faience Chalices, Part 1

3485. Overview: Faience Chalices, Part 1

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MARSHA HILL: My name is Marsha Hill. I'm a curator in the Egyptian art department. The decorated relief chalices that you see here on the table in front of you, the very bright blue one and the faded one next to it, are what we call faience relief chalices and are characteristic of the Third Intermediate Period, which is 1070-664 B.C. They show a wide variety of relief scenes that are all, in one way or the other, part of a cycle of myths, legends, and stories connected with a birth of a god in the marshes. And that god is identified with the king.

In fact, a little broken plaque at the bottom of the table, in front of the chalices, shows you the central scene in this whole cycle. You see a goddess nursing an infant against a background of papyrus. The Egyptians associated all of these beautiful little faience objects with the Egyptian midsummer New Years, which was just before the waters of the inundation receded. And the new growth could begin and new birth.

MIKE NORRIS: To hear more about the imagery on these chalices, press play.

    Listen to more about this artwork

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ca. 945–712 B.C.
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ca. 945–712 BC
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