DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4993#0201
VASES.
179
with a vertical cylindrical hole for containing the stibium, stem, or mestem. It
is broken. 1\ in. high. Arragonite.
1399. Similar vase, lip coarse and broken away. 1|- in. high. Arragonite
of a yellowish colour.
1400. Similar vase. 2f in. high. Same material.
1401. Bowl, hemispherical, with recurved lip; at bottom, concentric circular
ornament: probably of the time of the 26th dynasty. 6 in. diameter, 1-J in. high
at bottom. Green basalt.
1402. Small vase, probably from a painter's pallet, in shape of a cylindrical
basket, or calathus, with rim. ]-| in. high. Dark steatite.
1403. Small vase, with wide cylindrical neck, globular body, and two small
handles, in shape of the so-called oxybaphon of the Greeks. The use of glass
in Egypt was as old as the 12th dynasty, if not even earlier, and representa-
tions of its manufacture are seen in the tombs of Benihassan1, of the 12th
dynasty. Pieces having the names of a king of the 11th dynasty have been
found. A small bottle of the time of Thothmes III., of the 18th dynasty, is
in the British Museum2, and vessels of streaked glass are represented in the
tombs of the 19th and 20th dynasties3. Their use is also proved by the
mention of them in the lists of the Great Papyrus of Barneses III. The word
for glass was either basni or else thahen, crystal, applied to transparent glass;
while the dark blue opaque was called ^es&ei, or imitation lapis lazuli, as the
light blue was termed mafka, or false turquoise. Many fragments of glass vases
were found by the late Major Macdonald, in his excavations at the Temple of
Athor, or the Egyptian Venus, at the Sarabut el Khadim in the Peninsula of
Mount Sinai, and evidently of the time of the 19th and 20th dynasties, about
1300 B.C., when this kind of glass was most in use, transparent glass of a dark
or light green colour becoming more common about the 7th cent. B.C. It will
be observed that several of the glass vessels have the same form as the Greek,
the so-called oxybaphon, cenochoe, olpe, and alabastos types being common
amongst them; and it is possible that some may have been the produce of
Tyre and Sidon: and that vases of the same kind are extensively found in
1 Rosellini, M. C. Tar. lii.; Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, nr. p. 89.
2 No. 4740 a. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, Vol. n., p. 142, Ed. 1878.
3 Rosellini, M. C. liii.
AA 2
179
with a vertical cylindrical hole for containing the stibium, stem, or mestem. It
is broken. 1\ in. high. Arragonite.
1399. Similar vase, lip coarse and broken away. 1|- in. high. Arragonite
of a yellowish colour.
1400. Similar vase. 2f in. high. Same material.
1401. Bowl, hemispherical, with recurved lip; at bottom, concentric circular
ornament: probably of the time of the 26th dynasty. 6 in. diameter, 1-J in. high
at bottom. Green basalt.
1402. Small vase, probably from a painter's pallet, in shape of a cylindrical
basket, or calathus, with rim. ]-| in. high. Dark steatite.
1403. Small vase, with wide cylindrical neck, globular body, and two small
handles, in shape of the so-called oxybaphon of the Greeks. The use of glass
in Egypt was as old as the 12th dynasty, if not even earlier, and representa-
tions of its manufacture are seen in the tombs of Benihassan1, of the 12th
dynasty. Pieces having the names of a king of the 11th dynasty have been
found. A small bottle of the time of Thothmes III., of the 18th dynasty, is
in the British Museum2, and vessels of streaked glass are represented in the
tombs of the 19th and 20th dynasties3. Their use is also proved by the
mention of them in the lists of the Great Papyrus of Barneses III. The word
for glass was either basni or else thahen, crystal, applied to transparent glass;
while the dark blue opaque was called ^es&ei, or imitation lapis lazuli, as the
light blue was termed mafka, or false turquoise. Many fragments of glass vases
were found by the late Major Macdonald, in his excavations at the Temple of
Athor, or the Egyptian Venus, at the Sarabut el Khadim in the Peninsula of
Mount Sinai, and evidently of the time of the 19th and 20th dynasties, about
1300 B.C., when this kind of glass was most in use, transparent glass of a dark
or light green colour becoming more common about the 7th cent. B.C. It will
be observed that several of the glass vessels have the same form as the Greek,
the so-called oxybaphon, cenochoe, olpe, and alabastos types being common
amongst them; and it is possible that some may have been the produce of
Tyre and Sidon: and that vases of the same kind are extensively found in
1 Rosellini, M. C. Tar. lii.; Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, nr. p. 89.
2 No. 4740 a. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, Vol. n., p. 142, Ed. 1878.
3 Rosellini, M. C. liii.
AA 2