Skip Navigation

Cup from a Relief-Decorated Chalice

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

When its stem and blue glaze were complete, this vessel would have resembled more closely the blue lotus (Nymphaea cerulia), a symbol of creation, re-creation, birth, and rebirth, presumably because its flowers rise from the water to open each morning. The swamp scene may reflect ideas of the primordial landscape of creation, and some of its elements appear to hark back to the art of much earlier times.

MEDIUM Faience
  • Possible Place Collected: Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1070 B.C.E.-718 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 21 to Dynasty 22 (probably)
    PERIOD Third Intermediate Period to Late Period
    DIMENSIONS Height: 3 7/8 in. (9.9 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 49.133
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Fragmentary body of green glazed cup of chalice type. At base of cup, in relief, petals and leaves of lotus. On major portion of body, in relief, swamp scene; man with Hathor(?) cow, man with lasso and birds in flight. Conventionalized border at top and bottom of scene. Interior of cup plain. Condition: Base missing. Body assembled from many pieces with small section missing near base. Large section of upper portion missing.
    CAPTION Cup from a Relief-Decorated Chalice, ca. 1070 B.C.E.-718 B.C.E. Faience, Height: 3 7/8 in. (9.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.133. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.49.133_NegA_print_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.49.133_NegA_print_bw.jpg.
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.