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Blue-Painted Storage Jar

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Blue painted decoration on large vessels became fashionable during the reign of Amenhotep III (circa 1390–1352 B.C.E.). The blue pigment was likely produced with cobalt, a mineral originating in the western oasis, located about 150 miles from the Nile Valley and accessible to the Egyptians since the Old Kingdom.
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 26 9/16 × Diam. 17 1/8 in. (67.4 × 43.5 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 16.244
    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
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Large red pottery storage jar. Biconical body, cylindrical neck. Upper half of body decorated with four registers of conventionalized floral motifs in blue and red with black outlines. Blue band around neck. Condition: Poor. Rim entirely missing. Body cracked. Painted decorations on one side of body entirely missing.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Blue-Painted Storage Jar, ca. 1353-1329 B.C.E. Clay, pigment, 26 9/16 × Diam. 17 1/8 in. (67.4 × 43.5 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, 16.244. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.16.244_erg456.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.16.244_erg456.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 9/5/2007
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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