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Bound Oryx Dish

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

This work represents an Egyptian antelope, now extinct, called the scimitar oryx. The Egyptians attempted to domesticate this species during the Old Kingdom and to use it as a food source for gods and humans. Typically it is shown bound, because it was considered an enemy of Osiris.

This dish was used both to offer actual food to the deceased and, symbolically, to represent triumph over adverse forces.
MEDIUM Wood
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • DATES ca.1390–1352 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 18
    PERIOD New Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 4 3/16 x 1 3/4 x 9 in. (10.6 x 4.4 x 22.9 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 49.54
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Wooden toilet dish in the form of a bound oryx. Feet folded under body bound with four thongs. Head in the round with horns connected at their ends to body. Tail curved against body. One side of body hollowed in roughly oval shape to serve as container. Condition: Slight restoration in gesso near feet. One section of horn restored. Horns had warped slightly.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Bound Oryx Dish, ca.1390–1352 B.C.E. Wood, 4 3/16 x 1 3/4 x 9 in. (10.6 x 4.4 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.54. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 49.54_view2_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, bowl exterior, 49.54_view2_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph (Gavin Ashworth, photographer), 2012
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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     <em>Bound Oryx Dish</em>, ca.1390–1352 B.C.E. Wood, 4 3/16 x 1 3/4 x 9 in. (10.6 x 4.4 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.54. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 49.54_view2_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

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