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Grain Storage Jar with Blue-Painted Lotus Plants and Floral Collar

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Vessels with Blue-Painted Designs

The most innovative pottery of the Eighteenth Dynasty—so-called bluepainted ware—began under Thutmose III.


The pastel pigment was made from groundup blue frit, a mixture of cobalt and alum. Initially, potters relied on blue paint to accentuate small details, such as the grape cluster hanging from a vine on the wine jar in this case. Over time, though, artists began to use blue paint for more complex designs and figures.
MEDIUM Clay, pigment
  • Place Made: Tell el-Amarna, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1353-1329 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 18
    PERIOD New Kingdom, Amarna Period
    DIMENSIONS 27 9/16 × Diam. 15 5/8 in. (70 × 39.7 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 16.245
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Grain Storage Jar with Blue-Painted Lotus Plants and Floral Collar, ca. 1353-1329 B.C.E. Clay, pigment, 27 9/16 × Diam. 15 5/8 in. (70 × 39.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.245. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.16.245_NegF_print_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.16.245_NegF_print_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2013
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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