Bottle Imitating Leather Water Container, ca. 1479–1400 B.C.E. Clay, 6 1/4 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 in. (15.8 x 11.5 x 8.2 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, 16.580.128. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.16.580.128_erg456.jpg)
Bottle Imitating Leather Water Container, ca. 1479–1400 B.C.E. Clay, 6 1/4 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 in. (15.8 x 11.5 x 8.2 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, 16.580.128. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.16.580.128_NegA_print_bw.jpg)
Bottle Imitating Leather Water Container
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
Pottery Decoration
After a pottery vessel had dried to a leathery consistency, it was ready to be decorated and fired.
The simplest technique was to apply a layer of clay, paint, and water—called slip—on the pot’s drab exterior. Other methods included incising designs with pointed objects, polishing the surface with a cloth, or using a stone to burnish it, creating an attractive sheen.
Painted decorations appear on pottery throughout the Eighteenth Dynasty. Early designs included thin lines and long pendant triangles. Around the time of Thutmose III, artists invented a pastel blue paint that eventually dominated pottery decoration. A rare type of pot made exclusively for tombs was painted to reproduce the appearance of stones such as breccia.
After decorating the vessel, the potter placed it in a kiln for firing. Potters wrapped cords around large unfired vessels to prevent them from collapsing. These ropes burned away during firing, but traces of them remain on the sides of some pots.
After a pottery vessel had dried to a leathery consistency, it was ready to be decorated and fired.
The simplest technique was to apply a layer of clay, paint, and water—called slip—on the pot’s drab exterior. Other methods included incising designs with pointed objects, polishing the surface with a cloth, or using a stone to burnish it, creating an attractive sheen.
Painted decorations appear on pottery throughout the Eighteenth Dynasty. Early designs included thin lines and long pendant triangles. Around the time of Thutmose III, artists invented a pastel blue paint that eventually dominated pottery decoration. A rare type of pot made exclusively for tombs was painted to reproduce the appearance of stones such as breccia.
After decorating the vessel, the potter placed it in a kiln for firing. Potters wrapped cords around large unfired vessels to prevent them from collapsing. These ropes burned away during firing, but traces of them remain on the sides of some pots.
MEDIUM
Clay
DATES
ca. 1479–1400 B.C.E.
DYNASTY
Dynasty 18
PERIOD
New Kingdom
DIMENSIONS
6 1/4 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 in. (15.8 x 11.5 x 8.2 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
16.580.128
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
Orange-red polished pottery bottle of flattened globular shape, resembling a pilgrim-bottle. Wide oval, flat bottom, slightly pointed at ends. At each side, near shoulder, a pointed and uptilted pierced lug. Tall cylindrical neck, distinctly offset from body, tapering and then flaring slightly to rather wide, flat lip. A handle, most of which is wanting, connected shoulder in center back with neck at about two-thirds of its height.
Condition: Surface very slightly rubbed; otherwise perfect except for missing handles.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
CAPTION
Bottle Imitating Leather Water Container, ca. 1479–1400 B.C.E. Clay, 6 1/4 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 in. (15.8 x 11.5 x 8.2 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, 16.580.128. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.16.580.128_erg456.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, CUR.16.580.128_erg456.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 9/5/2007
"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
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