Bound Oryx Dish
ca.1390–1352 B.C.E.
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Object Label
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.
This dish was used both to offer actual food to the deceased and, symbolically, to represent triumph over adverse forces.
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. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth, photographer))
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Frequent Art Questions
What kind of wood is this?
Great question. I don't have the wood type identified in my notes, but my guess would be cedar. Wood was a luxury project in ancient Egypt as it had to be imported. Cedar would have come from Lebanon.Tell me more.
Because oryxes lived in the desert and the Egyptians were unsuccessful at domesticating them, they were associated with chaos and seen as a negative force. Here, it is shown bound. A symbolic way to exert control over them, thus containing their negative associations.This object is actually hollowed out slightly in the back and was designed as a dish to offer food for the deceased, which they needed to sustain themselves in the afterlife.
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