Face in clay. Technique, Imagery, and Allusion in a Corpus of Ceramic Sculpture from Ancient Egypt 380532992X

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Face in clay. Technique, Imagery, and Allusion in a Corpus of Ceramic Sculpture from Ancient Egypt
 380532992X

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FACES IN CLAY

..

Miinchner Agyptologische Studien Band 52 Herausgegeben von Gunter Burkard und Dieter Kessler

MUNCHNER UNIVERSIT ATSSCHRIFTEN PHILOSOPHISCHE FAKULTAT

Technique, Imagery, and Allusion in a Corpus of Ceramic Sculpture from Ancient Egypt by Peter F. Dorman

VERLAG PHILIPP VON ZABERN · MAINZ AM RHEIN

XXI, 202 Seiten mit 3 Strichabbildungen; 38 Tafeln

TABLE OF CONTENTS

..

Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations

Xlll

List of Tables and Figures

XXl

Introduction

1

1 Sculptural Forms in Clay

6

1.1.1 The Application of Modeled or Molded Figures 1.1.2 The Figural Transformation of Vessels

Donnan, Peter F.: Faces in clay: technique, imagery, and allusion in a corpus of ceramic sculpture from ancient Egypt I by Peter F. Donnan. - Mainz : von Zabem, 2002 (Miinchner Agyptologische Studien ; Bd. 52) ISBN 3-8053-2992-X

ISBN 3-8053-2992-X Alle Rechte, insbesondere das der Ubersetzung in fremde Sprachen, vorbehalten. Ohne ausdriickliche Genehmigung des Verlages ist es auch nicht gestattet, dieses Buch oder Teile daraus auf photomechanischem Wege (Photokopie, Mikrokopie) zu vervielfiiltigen oder unter Veiwendung elektronischer Systeme zu verarbeiten und zu verbreiten. Printed in Germany by Philipp von Zabem Printed on fade resistant and archival quality paper (PH 7 neutral) · tcf

9 9

12

1.2 Late Period Terracottas

18

1.3 Molded Figure Vases of the New Kingdom

21

1.4 Ceramic Figurines and Formal Sculpture

24

1.4.1 Ceramic Figurines

24

1.4.2 Ceramic Sculpture

30

2 A Typology of Ceramic Canopic Jar Lids

37

2.1 Type A: Accretion

39

2.2 Type D: Distention

43

2.3 Type M: Modeling

48

2.4 General Remarks on the Typology

52

3 Potters and Other Artisans

© 2002 Verlag Philipp von Zabem, Mainz am Rhein

lX

List of Plates

1.1 The Sculptural Adaptation of Ceramic Vessels

Die Deutsche Bibliothek- CIP-Einheitsaufnahme

Vll

56

3 .1 The Pictoral and Archaeological Context of Workshops

56

3.2 The Sculptor's Hand, the Painter's Brush

61

3.3 Canopic Lids as Sculpture in Clay

76

Faces in Clay

VI

4 The Turning of the Wheel 4.1 The Root Qd: Builders, Potters, and Creators

82

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

83

4.1.1 Qd, "to Build"

84

4.1.2 Qd, "to Fashion Pots"

86

4.1.3 (l.)qd, "Builder, Potter"

87

As mentioned in the introduction to this monograph, it is perhaps odd that a single oral

4.1.4 Qd, "to Create"

99

presentation -should give rise to something entirely different in size and scope, but I would like

109

to

4.2 Divine Creators at the Potter's Wheel

114

generous enough to give me their insights and criticisms, both in unstinting measure. In the

4.3 Concluding Remarks

130

course of many intervening years their comments and encouragement have led me into areas of

4.1.5 Remarks on the Triliteral Root Qdy

shift the onus for this escalation in magnitude entirely to a number of colleagues who were

ancient studies that I may not have otherwise visited and in which my knowledge is, to say the 5 Catalogue of Selected Canopic Jar Lids

133

least, notably limited. I therefore owe an enormous debt of gratitude to them for their collective

5.1 Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

133

willingness to share their own expertise and, in a more practical vein, to provide me access to

5.2 Cairo, Egyptian Museum

138

museum objects. This book could not have been written without their assistance, yet I have

5.3 Chicago, Oriental Institute Museum

selected freely from their varied suggestions, and the conclusions-as well as any inadvertent

5.4 London, British Museum

150 152

5.5 London, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

159

I especially wish to thank Dr. Dorothea Arnold for her enthusiasm at a very early point in

5.6 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art

161

this study, and for her continued generous guidance on all questions of ceramic technology, in

5.7 Oxford, Ashmolean Museum

166

particular the problems of v·essel construction, fabric types, and finishing methods. Dr.Janine

5.8 Paris, Musee du Louvre

168

Bourriau also interested herself in the problems of lid manufacture and thoughtfully sent me a

misstatements- are the responsibility of the present author alone.

copy of her manuscript on figure vases prior to its publication. I also gratefully acknowledge Bibliography

171

the kindness of Charles Gorrell, of Bellingham, Washington, who demonstrated for me, on a potter's wheel, certain technical parameters regarding the configuration of various ceramic lids.

Indexes

198

For the compilation of the corpus of canopic lids in this book I owe heartfelt thanks to the

General Index

198

directors and curators of several museums in Egypt, Europe, and the United States, whom I

Objects in Museum Collections

200

importuned for time and information, often more than once. Their unfailing hospitality and assistance-as well as their willingness here-are deeply appreciated:

Plates

to

supply photographs of many of the lids published

Dr. Mohammed Saleh and Dr. Mohammed Gomaa of the

Egyptian Museum, Cairo; Dr. W. Vivian Davies and Dr. Richard Parkinson of the British Museum;

Dr. Christiane Ziegler and Dr. Genevieve Pierrat of the Musee du Louvre; Dr.

Barbara Adams of the Petrie Museum of Archaeology, University College London; Dr. Helen Whitehouse of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Dr. Dorothea Arnold, Dr. Catharine Roehrig, and Ms. Marsha Hill of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Dr. Rita Freed and Dr. Peter Lacovara of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Dr. Karen Wilson, Dr. Emily Teeter, Dr. Ray Tindel, and Mr. John Larson of the Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago. I am particularly grateful

to

Dr. Morris Bierbrier, who has been in the process of cataloguing the

canopic jars at the British Museum, but who willingly provided me a great deal of information he had already gathered on the ceramic examples in order to facilitate my own work. As for photography, I especially wish to thank Yarko Kobylecky of the Oriental Institute's Epigraphic

Vlll

Faces in Clay

Survey for the extraordinary results he obtained during one very long day of shooting at the

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Cairo Museum, as well as William Barrette of the Metropolitan Museum for the very specific views of certain lids that he took at my request. I am also indebted to William Schenck for the exquisite drawings of several canopic lids. The stylistic comments developed in this study owe much to the advice and wisdom of · several colleagues in New York, who often sent me comparative materials for the canopic lids,

Bibliographic Abbreviations AA

Agyptologische Abhandlungen. Wiesbaden, 1960-.

AAT

Agypten und Altes Testament. Wiesbaden, 1979-.

ADAIK

Abhandlungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo. Gliickstadt-Hamburg-New York, 1958-.

AECT

Raymond 0. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts. 3 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973-78.

AEPT

Raymond 0. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969.

AF

Agyptologische Forschungen. Gliickstadt-Hamburg-N ew York, 1936-.

AIB

Aegyptische Inschriften aus den koniglichen Museen zu Berlin, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1913.

AnnLex

Dimitri Meeks, Annee Lexicographique, 3 vols., Paris, 1980-82.

AnOr

Analecta orientalia. Rome, 1931- .

ASAE

Annales des Services des antiquites egyptiennes. Cairo, 1900-.

ASE

Archaeological Survey of Egypt. London, 1893-.

AV

Archaologische Veroffentlichungen. Berlin and Mainz, 1970-.

BdE

Bibliotheque d'etude. Cairo, 1908-.

BES

Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar. New York, 1979-.

BibAeg

Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca. Brussels, 1932-.

BIFAO

Bulletin de l'Institut franrais d'archeologie orientale. Cairo, 1901-.

EMMA

Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1905-.

BSAC

Bulletin de la Societe de l'archeologie copte. Cairo, 1935-.

BSAE

British School of Archaeology in Egypt and Egyptian Research Account. London, 1906-.

in particular Dr. Edna Russmann, Dr. Richard Fazzini, and Dr. James Romano, all of the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The analysis of the divine potter in the Theban royal tombs was enriched through a number of conversations with Professor John Darnell, whose insights and interest in the study, as well as assistance with bibliographic materials I am most grateful for. Dr. James Allen was kind enough to read the section on the verb qd, "to fashion, form," and to propose a number of important corrections to the text. He also suggested to me the quotation, glimpsed on a New York subway, that appears as the introductory citation to Chapter 2. Dr. Susan Allen also read a draft of this manuscript and provided me with a number of corrections and thoughtful reflections on ceramic manufacture in general. To all of these colleagues I express my sincere thanks. The last stages of research and writing were expedited through the generosity of Mrs. Louise Grunwald, who kindly took a great interest in the book over a din·ner conversation at Chicago House and whose financial assistance made the task of assembling the photographs and manuscript far easier than I had supposed. Other friends also made generous contributions to the preparation of the volume, and I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation to them: P.D. and Judy Block, Bud and Nancy Foster, John and Judy McCarter, and Tom and Pam Sheffield. I am also deeply grateful to Janel Mueller, Dean of Humanities at the University of Chicago, and Gene Gragg, Director of the Oriental Institute, for their generous pledge of the subvention required for the publication itself. For the inclusion of this book in the series M iinchener Agyptologische Studien, I express my sincere thanks to the editors, Professor Gunter Burkard and Professor Dieter Kessler, as well as to Professor Regine Schulz, all of whom were instrumental in guiding the manuscript through the cumbersome process of formatting at long distance. Mr. Thomas G. Urban of the Oriental Institute Publications Office was a truly invaluable consultant for the often frustrating task of forcing text and tables into the prescribed parameters, and it is a special pleasure to express my appreciation to my daughter, Emily Dorman, for scanning most of the illustrations into a database in preparation for the plate layout.

X

Abbreviations

Faces in Clay

Xl

LES

Alan H. Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Stories. egyptologique reine Elisabeth, 1932.

MAS

Miinchner Agyptologische Studien. Berlin, 1962-.

MDAIK

Mitteilunge~ des deutschen archaologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo. 1930-.

Documents de fouilles de l'Institut franc;ais d'archeologie orientale . . Cairo, 1938-.

MES

Leonard Lesko, A Dictionary of Late Egyptian, 5 vols. Providence: B.C. Scribe Publications, 1982-90.

Aylward Blackman, Middle-Egyptian Stories. BibAeg 2. Brussels: Fondation egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, 1932.

MH

The Epigraphic Survey, Medinet Habu, 8 vols. Chicago, 1930-70.

ECT

Adriaan de Buck, The Egyptian Coffin Texts, 7 vols. Chicago.

MIFAO

EM

Exploration Memoir of the Egyptian Exploration Fund/Society. London, 1888-.

Memoires publies par les membres de l'Institut franc;ais d'archeologie orientale. Cairo, 1902-.

ERA

Egyptian Research Account. London, 1896-1906.

MMAF

Memoires publies par les membres de la Mission archfologique franc;aise. Cairo, 1884-.

FIFAO

Fouilles de Jllnstitut franc;ais d' archeologie orientale. Cairo, 1924-.

NARCE

GM

Gottinger Miszellen. Gottingen, 1972-.

Newsletter of the American Research Center in Egypt. Boston-Cairo-PrincetonN ew York, 1951-.

HAB

Hildesheimer Agyptologische Beitrage. Hildesheim, 1976-.

OBO

Orb is biblicus et orientalis. Frei burg and Gottingen, 1973-.

]ARCE

Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. Boston and Princeton, 1962-.

OINE

Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition. Chicago, 1967 - .

]EA

Journal of .Egyptian Archaeology. London, 1914-.

OIP

Oriental Institute Publications. Chicago, 1924-.

JEOL

]aarbericht van het vooraziatisch-egyptisch Gezelschap "Ex oriente lux." Leiden, 1938-.

0 LA

Orientalia Lovenensia analecta. Leiden, 197 5 - .

OMRO

.Oudheidkundige mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum von oudheden te Leiden, new series. Leiden, 1920-.

PM

Bertha Porter and Rosalind Moss et al., A Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings. vols. 1-7. 1st ed., Oxford, 1927-51~ 2nd ed., vols. 1-3, Oxford 1960-81.

CAA

Corpus antiquitatum aegyptiacarum.

CCE

Cahiers de la ceramique egyptienne. Cairo, 1990- .

CdE

Chronique d'Egypte. Brussels, 1925-.

CT

Coffin Texts; followed by spell number as given in ECT.

DFIFAO DLE

BibAeg 1.

Brussels:

Fondation

Cairo,

JNES

Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Chicago, 1942-.

JSSEA

Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities ; Toronto, 1971-.

KMT

K•M•T: A Modern journal of Ancient Egypt. San Francisco, 1990-.

KR!

Kenneth A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, Historical and Biographical, vols. 1-8. Oxford: Blackwell, 1969-90.

PMMAEE

Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition. New York, 1916-.

LA

Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto, and Wolfhart Westendorf (eds.), Lexikon der Agyptologie, vols. 1-7. Wiesbaden, 1975-92.

PT

Pyramid Texts, followed by section number as given m Kurt Sethe, Die altaegyptischen Pyramidentexte, 2 vols. Leipzig, 1908-10.

LD

Karl Richard Lepsius, Denkmaeler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien, 6 vols. Berlin, 1849-56.

RIK 1

The Epigraphic Survey, Ramses Ill's Temple within the Great Inclosure of Amon, Part 1. Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak 1. OIP 25. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1936.

LEM

Alan H. Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies. BibAeg 7. Brussels: Fondation egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, 1937.

..

Faces in Clay

Xll

RILT 2

The Epigraphic Survey, The Facade, Portals, Upper Register Scenes, Columns, Marginalia, and Statuary of the Colonnade Hall. Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple 2. OIP 116. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1998.

RdE

Revue d'egyptologie. Paris and Cairo, 1933-.

RT

Receuil de trav aux. Paris, 1879-:: 1923.

SAK

Studien zur Altagyptischen Kultur. Hamburg, 1974-.

SAOC

Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilizations. Chicago, 1930-.

Urk. 1

Kurt Sethe(ed.), Urkunden des agyptischen Altertums 1: Urkunden des Alten Reichs. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrich'sche Buchhandlung, 1933.

LIST OF PLATES

Plate 1: Adaptation of vessels A. Ceramic bowl with female figures applied to rim. From Abydos tomb U-502. ©Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, Abteilung Kairo. B. Blue-painted amphora with animal figures applied to lid and shoulders. BMFA 64.9. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All rights reserved. C. Nagada I beaker with lizard applied to side. BM EA 53885. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. Urk. 4

Wb.

Urkunden des dgyptischen Altertums 4: Urkunden der 18. Dynastie, fasc. 1-16 (ed. K. Sethe), 17-22 (ed. W. Heick). Leipzig and Berlin: J. C. Hinrich'sche Buchhandlung, 1906-58.

Adolf Erman and Hermann Grapow, Worterbuch der agyptischen Sprache, vols. 17, and Belegstellen, vols. 1-5. Berlin, 1926-63.

D. Bolti-fish vase. U.C. 2965. Copyright, The Petrie Museum of Archaeology, University College London. Plate 2: Adaptation of vessels A. Naqada II bowl with human feet. MMA 10.176.113, Rogers Fund, 1910. B. Ovoid jar with Hathor attributes added in modeling and paint. Princeton

YES

Yale Egyptological Studies. New Haven, 1986-.

ZAS

Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde. Leipzig and Berlin, 1863-.

ZDPV

Zeitschrift des deutschen Palastina- Vereins. Leipzig, 1878-.

yl 952-87. The Art Museum, Princeton University. Museum purchase. C. Feminoform "mourner" jar. U.C. 16126. Copyright, The Petrie Museum of Archaeology, University College London. D. Feminoform lentoid flask. Berlin 13156. Agyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Photo: Jutta Tietz.

General Abbreviations

Plate 3: Adaptation of vessels A. Painted Bes vessel. Berlin 22620. Agyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Photo: Margarete

col(s).

column(s)

KV

Valley of Kings tomb (followed by tomb number)

B. Detail of Hathor vessel. MMA 12.180.31, Rogers Fund, 1912.

1. (11.)

line(s)

C. Interior detail of Hathor vessel. MMA 12.180.31, Rogers Fund, 1912.

Busing.

D. Figure vessel of hedgehog. Ashmolean E.2775. Courtesy of the Ashmolean n. (nn.)

note(s)

P· (pp.) '

page(s)

temp.

tempore (in the time of)

TT

Theban tomb (followed by tomb number)

vol(s).

volume(s)

Museum. E-F. Pilgrim flask with figures of foreigners on shoulders. Berlin 13155. Agyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Photo: Margarete Busing. Plate 4: Terracottas and figure vessels A. Terracotta lantern in the form of Isis. Louvre E.28004. © Maurice and Pierre Chuzeville/Musee du Louvre.

Faces in Clay

XIV

B. Figure vessel of nursing mother. Berlin 14476. Agyptisches Museum und

List of Plates

Plate 10

Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Photo: Dietlinde Karig.

Canopic jars A. BMFA 72.1581b: front view. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

C. Figure vessel of ibex and calves. Louvre E.12659. © Maurice and Pierre

Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All

Chuzeville/Musee du Louvre.

rights reseFed.

D. Naqada I ceramic figurine. Brooklyn 07.447.505, Museum Collection Fund.

B. BMFA 72.1592b: front view. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Photo: Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All rights reserved.

Plate 5: Ceramic sculpture

C. CG 4585: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. D. CG 4585: right profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

A. Ceramic female figurines. Fitzwilliam E.1.1981 and E.188.1939. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. B. Ceramic lion from Hierakonpolis. Ashmolean E.189. Courtesy of the

Plate 11

Ashmolean Museum.

Canopic jars A. MMA 25.7.38B: front view. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Foulds, 1925.

C. Ceramic bust of woman. BM EA 21820. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

B. MMA 25.7.38B: drawing. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Foulds, 1925.

C. BMFA 72.1564: front view. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All rights reserved.

D. Ceramic head of Amenhotep III. Cairo JdE 38597. Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

D. BMFA 72.1564: left profile. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Plate 6

Canopic jars

Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All

A. MMA 12.181.253B2: front view. Rogers Fung., 1912.

rights reserved.

B. MMA 12.181.253B2: right profile. Rogers Fund, 1912.

C. MMA 12.181.253B2: interior pancake. Rogers Fund, 1912.

Plate 12

Canopic jars and comparanda A. MMA 35.3.34B: front view. Rogers Fund, 1935.

D. CG 4526: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

B. MMA 35.3.34B: right profile. Rogers Fund, 1935. Plate 7

A. BM EA 9604: front view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

C. Head of indurated limestone statue of Hatshepsut, MMA 29.3.2. Rogers Fund, 1929.

B. BM EA 37950: 3/4 left view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

D. MMA 35.3.34B: right section. Drawing by William Schenck.

Canopic jars

C. CG 4570: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. D. CG 4570: interior view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. Plate 8

Plate 13

A. CG 4533: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

Canopic jars

B. CG 4533: left profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

A. MMA 35.3.333A: front view. Rogers Fund, 1935.

C. Granite statue of Amenhotep II, Allard Pierson Museum 1387 and Luxor Museum J. 31. Courtesy of the Luxor Museum. D. Louvre N.2702: front view. © Christian Larrieu/Musee du Louvre.

B. MMA 35.3.333A: front view and section. Drawing by William Schenck.

C. MMA 35.3.333A: right profile. Drawing by William Schenck. D. BM EA 9592: front view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. Plate 9

Canopic jars and comparanda

Canopic jars A. CG 4575: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. B. CG 4575: right profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

C. CG 4582: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. D. CG 4582: right profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

Plate 14

Canopic jars and comparanda A. CG 4534: 3/4 left view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. B. Granite statue of Amenhotep II. Luxor J. 52. Courtesy of Luxor Museum.

C. MMA 11.150.41B: right profile. Rogers Fund, 1911. D . MMA 11.150.41 B: front view. Rogers Fund, 1911.

xv

Plate 15

List of Plates

Faces in Clay

XVl

Canopic jars and comparanda

Plate 20

A. CG 4531: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

B. CG 4535: right profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

B. CG 4531: right profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

C. Limestone statue of Amenhotep, called Huy. Leiden AST 13. Photo by

C. MMA 15.2.9~: front view. Rogers Fund, 1915. D. CG 4621 : front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky;

Bernard V. Bothmer, courtesy of Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden.

Plate 16

Canopic jars

A. CG 4535: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

D. Granite statue of Hatshepsut. MMA 23.3.1. Rogers Fund, 1923.

.. XVll

Plate 21

Canopic jars A. BMFA 72.1565: front view. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Canopic jars and comparanda A. BM EA 57340: front view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All

B. OIM 9797: front view. Photo courtesy of the Oriental Institute, University of

rights reserved. B. BMFA 72.1589b: right profile. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Chicago. C. Basalt statue of Tuthmosis III. CG 42053.

Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All

D. Alabaster canopic lid. BM EA 36517. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British

rights reserved. C. BM EA 9582: 3/4 left view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

Museum.

D. BM EA 9599: front view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. Plate 17

Canopic jars and comparanda A. Limestone statue of Nebseny and Nebetta. Brooklyn 40.523, Charles

Plate 22

Edwin Wilbour Fund. Photo: Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

University College London.

B. U.C. 30099: front view. Copyright, The Petrie Museum of Archaeology,

B. U.C. 30100: left profile. Copyright, The Petrie Museum of Archaeology,

University College London.

University College London.

C. BMFA 72.1569: front view. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

C. U.C. 30103: front view. Copyright, The Petrie Museum of Archaeology,

Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All

University College London.

rights reserved.

D. U.C. 30103: left profile. Copyright, The Petrie Museum of Archaeology,

D. BMFA 72.1583: front view. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

University College London.

Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All rights reserved. Plate 18

Canopic jars A. U .C. 30100: front view. Copyright, The Petrie Museum of Archaeology,

Plate 23

Canopic jars

Canopic jars and comparanda

A. BM EA 34192: 3/4 left view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

A. MMA 27.3.559: front view. Rogers Fund, 1927.

B. BM EA 9609: 3/4 left view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

B. MMA 27.3.559: right profile. Rogers Fund, 1927.

C. Louvre N .3444: front view. © Christian Larrieu/Musee du Louvre.

C. Basalt statue of Senenmut. MMA 48.149.7. Bequest of George D. Pratt,

D. Louvre N.3444 bis: front view. © Christian Larrieu/Musee du Louvre.

1935. D. MMA 27.3.559: left profile and section. Drawing by William Schenck. Plate 19

Canopic jars and comparapda A. CG 4538: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. B. CG 4538: left profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. C. Greywacke statue of Amenhotep II. CG 42077. Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. D. CG 4544: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

Plate 24

Pottery workshops A. Pottery workshop from the tomb of Tiy at Saqqara. After Epron et al. 1939, p. 71 . B. Pottery workshop from the tomb of Bakt III at Beni Hasan. After Naville 1894a, pl. 7.

Plate 25

List of Plates

Faces in Clay

XV111

Pottery workshops

Plate 30

XlX

Canopic jars A. CG 4635 : front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

A. Pottery workshop from the tomb of Djehutyhotep at Bersha. After Na ville 1894b, pl. 25.

B. BM EA 34218: front view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

C. CG 4612: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. D. CG 4612: right profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

B. Pottery workshop from the tomb of Khnumhotep III at Beni Hasan. After LD 2, p. 126.

C. Pottery workshop excavated at area Q48.4 at Tell el Amarna. After Nicholson 1992, p. 62.

Plate 31

Divine potters A. Khnum at the potter's wheel, temple of Deir el Bahari. After Naville

Plate 26

Canopic jars and comparanda

1896, pl. 48.

A. BM EA 48980: front view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.

B. Khnum at the potter's wheel, temple of Dendera. After Junker and Winter

B. Detail of statue of Tjay and N aya. CG 628. Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum,

1965, p. 376.

Cairo.

C. Khnum at the potter's wheel, temple of Philae. After Benedite 1895, pl. 61. C. Human-headed Khnum at the potter's wheel, temple of Hibis. After Davies 1953, pl. 4.

C. CG 4529: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. D. Detail of statue of Sennefer and Senetnay. CG 42126. Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Plate 32 Plate 27

Canopic jars and comparanda

A. Ptah painting at the potter's wheel, temple of Dendera. After Daumas 1959,

A. BM EA 53996: 3/4 left view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British

pl. 60.

Museum.

B. Khnum and Ptah creating at the potter's wheel, temple of Hibis. After Davies

B. BMFA 72.1568: front view. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

1953, pl. 27.

Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All

C. Khn um receiving the potter's wheel, temple of Esna. After Sauneron 1963,

rights reserved.

p. 36.

C. Head of Amenhotep II. BMFA 99. 733. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Reproduced with permission. ©1999 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All rights reserved. D. MMA 32.8.11: front view. Anonymous Gift, 1932.

Divine potters

D. Khnum receiving the potter's wheel, temple of Esna. After Sauneron 1968, p. 227.

Plate 33

Divine potters A. Last hour of the Book of the Night: sarcophagus chamber in the tomb of

Plate 28

Canopic jars and comparanda

Ramesses VI (KV 9). Photo by P. Dorman.

A. CG 4556: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

B. Last hour of the Book of the Night: Corridor C in the tomb of Ramesses VI

B. CG 4556: left profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

(KV 9). Photo by P. Dorman.

C. Gold mask of Wendjebaendjed, JE 87753. Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. D. Louvre N.3455 front view. © Christian Larrieu/Musee du Louvre.

Plate 34

Divine potters A. Last hour of the Book of the Night: sarcophagus chamber in the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9), detail of potter's wheel. Photo by P. Dorman.

Plate 29

Canopic jars A. BM EA 9577: 3/4 left view. Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. B. MMA 15.3.176: front view. Rogers Fund, 1915.

C. CG 4613: front view. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky. D. CG 4613: right profile. Photo by Yarko Kobylecky.

B. Last hour of the Book of the Night: the tomb of Osorkon at Tanis. After Montet 1947, pl. 25.

C. Last hour of the Book of the Night: tomb of Pedamenope (TT 33 ).

xx

Plate 35

Faces in Clay

Divine potters A. First hour of the Book of the Day: sarcophagus chamber in the tomb of

LIST OF TABLES .

Ramesses VI (KV 9). Photo by P. Dorman. B. First hour of the Book of the Day: corridor C in the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9). Photo by P. Dorman. Plate 36

Divine potters A. First hour of the Book of the Day: sarcophagus chamber in the tomb of Ramesses IX (KV 6). Photo by P. Dorman.

Table 1. Selected Orthographies of Qd, "To Build"

85

Table 2. Selected Orthographies of Qd, "To Fashion Pottery"

86

Table 3. Selected Orthographies of (l.)qd, "Builder, Potter"

89-92

B. First hour of the Book of the Day: tomb of Osorkon at Tanis. After Montet 1947, pl. 25. Plate 37

Table 4. Selected Orthographies of Qd, ''To Fashion, Create"

101-102

Divine potters A. Detail of Book of the Day: sarcophagus chamber in the tomb of Ramesses IX (KV 6). Photo by P. Dorman. B. Celestial potter, corridor C in the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9). Photo by P . .

LIST OF FIGURES

Dorman.

C . Celestial potter, sarcophagus chamber in the tomb of Ramesses IX (KV 6 ). Photo by P. Dorman. D . Celestial potter, tomb of Osorkon II. After Montet 1947, pl. 25.

E. Celestial potter, Cairo oCG 25074. After Piankoff 1934, p. 104. Plate 38

Detail of ceiling from cenotaph of Sety I at Abydos. After Frankfort 1933, pl. 48.

Figure 1: Determinative of the Verb Qd from a Text of Tuthmosis III at Karnak. After Holthoer 1977, p. 19.

106

Figure 2: Text from an Architrave at Beitel Wali. After Ricke et al. 1967, pl. 37B.

116

Figure 3: Hieroglyph of Qd from the Temple of Hibis. After Davis 1953, pl. 4.

120

INTRODUCTION

The origin of this study lies in a most ~nremarkable undertaking: the description of an object for a tomb catalogue. The object in question is a ceramic head discovered in 1927 by the Metropolitan Museum's Egyptian Expedition in the burial chamber of Senenmut's Theban tomb (TT 353) and which in scale and function is to be identified as the lid of a canopic jar or box. 1 Like the majority of such ceramic lids, the turning marks inside it betray its obvious origin on a potter's wheel, and yet the visage with which it is adorned raises very different questions concerning the application of human features to a mass of moist clay that is subsequently fired in a kiln, and in particular the very basic problem of artisanal manufacture. Are these objects to be considered primarily part of the ordinary ceramic repertoire or do they fall into a separate category of minor funerary arts-and if the latter, to what extent are they the product of collaborative craftsmanship? As an important component of standard funerary equipment, canopic jars seem to have appeared in royal burials at least by the end of the Fourth Dynasty. Although the presence of canopic chests may be inferred even earlier, 2 it seems that in these early deposits the internal organs were simply wrapped in linen and placed within the canopic chest. The four interior walls that usually subdivide the canopic chest into four compartments are already in evidence in the earliest extant chest, that of Queen Hetepheres I of Dynasty 4, made of alabaster, and the organs found therein were bundled in linen packets. 3 The earliest datable canopic jars are a limestone set that belonged to Meresankh III, the wife of Khafre, who was buried at Giza (tomb G 7530) and who seems to have lived into the early reign of Menkaure. 4 These jars are simple shouldered vessels with lids in the form of slightly domed disks, and they become gradually more prevalent for private burials of the later Old Kingdom. 5 During the First Intermediate Period and early Middle Kingdom the canopic jar or bundled organ becomes anthropo-

Dorman 1991, pp. 148-49 (Cat. 40), pl. 87a-b, d. In this volume, see Cat. #73, pl. 18A-B, D. A preliminary paper on this topic, "A Canopic Jar Lid of the Early 18th Dynasty in the Metropolitan Museum of Art," was delivered at the Symposium on Ancient Egyptian Pottery held in New York in November, 1986; brief reference to the paper has been made in Do. Arnold 1993, p. 26. Bierbrier in D'Auria et al. 1988, p. 80 (citing Reisner 1936, pp. 220-21; see also Rogouline 1965, p. 242), notes that the canopic niche is a regular feature of early Fourth Dynasty mastabas of Medum; Rogouline 1965, pp. 237-38 (citing Reisner 1936, pp. 141-42), suggests that the canopic niche may have developed in rudimentary form as early as Dynasty 2 or 3. Reisner 1955, pp. 21-22, pl. 44; see also the comments of Lehner 1985, pp. 30-31. Dunham and Simpson 1974, p. 23, fig. 16a. Reisner believed that Meresankh survived into the reign of Shepseskaf (ibid., p. 8, n. 9; a date also mentioned by Rogouline 1965, p. 246) or even into Dynasty 5 (Reisner 1955, pp. 10-12). The earliest royal canopic jar is a mere fragment belonging to Isesi of the late Fifth Dynasty (Dodson 1994, p. 11 ). For a sampling of other jars of this form, see Bierbrier in D'Auria et al. 1988, p. 80, #10; and Martin-Pardey 1980, pp. 1-6, 91-150. For canopic vessels similar in form to ~s-jars, see Dolzani 1982, pp. 35-36, #19043-45.

2

morphized in a vanety of ways-with a cartonnage mask placed over the jar, 6 with 11

Introduction

Faces in Clay

II

mummified appendages to the internal organs that imitate the human form,7 or with the jar

itself acquiring arms and/or

legs 8 -although

due to the inherent uncertainties in dating burials

3

of canopic jars regularly incorporates the heads of the jackal, falcon, and baboon canop1c deities-and human examples again diminish in number-'-the concentration of this study will perforce be canopic jar lids of Dynasty 18.

of this period the progression of this transition is difficult to track. 9

Canopic lids, of course,_are by no means the only class of Egyptian artifact in which pottery

At the very beginning of the Middle Kingdom the human-headed canopic jar lid seems

1s combined in an integral manner with human or animal representations. The addition of

already to have appeared, with the two well dated examples from the burial chamber of

° For the duration of the Middle Kingdom, human heads are

miniature anthropomorphic and theriomorphic forms to pottery vessels is a standard feature of

Mentuhotep II at Deir el Bahari. 1

the Egyptian ceramic corpus from very early times, and some of the most exquisite products of

the standard iconography for canopic jars, appearing commonly as stoppers that fit into the jar

the potter's workshop are the specialty figure vases that enjoyed a considerable, if

opening, or more rarely as separately carved adornments that fit over a raised knob on an

chronologically proscribed, popularity during the 18th Dynasty. Terracottas of the Egyptian

lid. 11

From the Middle Kingdom as well come the first ceramic examples of

Late Period are indubitably to be recognized as small sculptures in fired clay, even if they

human-headed canopic lids, 12 but in comparison to stone examples these appear to be somewhat

represent for the most part a Hellenistic rather than a native aesthetic, and from pharaonic

uncommon; certainly by the early New Kingdom their relative numbers increase markedly.

Egypt itself small-scale ceramic figurines occur in great quantity-and even a small number of

otherwise flat

Questions of precise chronology and dating, however, are not the primary concern of this

life-size heads, busts, and fragmentary statues in fired clay have been identified.

study. To be sure, the point at which human-headed canopic lids first appear in ceramic-and

It is by no means clear whether objects of such diverse form and function can have direct

their · relation to early attested canopic examples in cartonnage, wood, and stone-is of

bearing on the manufacturing techniques detectable in canopic lids, but at the very least these

considerable interest, but the archaeological data at hand is insufficient to provide conclusive

corpora should be briefly reviewed to ascertain the nature and extent of the artisans' respective

answers. 13

Instead, the focus of this monograph will be the technical processes of creating

contributions and to place the humble ceramic canopic lid in its own context. Fortunately, a

human-headed lids in clay: the methods involved in their manufacture,. their relation to the

number of recent studies have been undertaken on figure vases, 14 and the manufacture of Late

potter's craft, and the ways in which the human visage was applied to the sides of the lid. As

Period terracottas has been essentially understood since the early part of this century, 15 so there

just noted, the corpus of ceramic human-headed lids available for study is especially ample

are existing comparanda for classes of ceramic objects that bear the human image. But it should

beginning with the early New Kingdom. Since toward the end of Dynasty 18 the iconography

be noted that neither life-size ceramic sculpture nor figure vases are common in museum collections-they are limited in number overall, either by their function or perhaps because

10

11

12

13

For example, Hayes 1953, fig. 210 on p. 322. Ikram and Dodson 1998, p. 279, for example, note such an arrangement with the Djehutynakht burial from Bersha, for which see D' Auria in D 'Auria et al. 1988, p. 111, with fig. 56. See, for instance, Reisner 1899, p. 61, #5, with fig. la on p. 62. Martin 1980, col. 318, nn. 10 and 11, lists other examples. See, recently, Ikram and Dodson 1998, pp. 278-79; and Dodson 1994, pp. 14-15. Dodson 1994, pp. 16, Cat. #9/1 -2, with pl. 4a. As Di. Arnold 1981, p. 49, remarks, "es handelt sich ... um die altesten sicher datierbaren Kanopen mit menschenformigen Deckeln." Reisner 1967, pp. 14-15, pl. 5 (CG 4023 from Dahshur), illustrates how the alabaster head fits over a knobbed lid that provides the vessel with a profile not unlike that of a nms. t,-jar. See also a similar arrangement for the boxlike canopic containers CG 4025-26, ibid., pp. 15-16, pl. 5. This adaptation directly from canopic vessels makes one cautious in tracing the origin of human-headed lids to bundled internal organs that receive "cartonnage masks which ultimately develop into human-lidded canopic jars" (Dodson 1994, p. 14). For example, four jars from Lisht, CG 4077-80, for which see Reisner 1899, pp. 62-63, #6, with fig. 2b; and idem 1967, pp. 47-49, pl. 12.

certain examples remain unrecognized-and the latter group are restricted in fabric to fine

14

Notably, Bourriau in Brovarski et al. 1982, pp. 101-06; and idem 1987. See further §1.3, below.

To mention just one case, the burial of Inpuemhat from Saqqara is often cited as one of the earliest examples of a First Intermediate Period interment with human-headed canopic lids, in this instance made of cartonnage (D'Auria in D'Auria et al. 1988, p. 111; Martin 1980, col. 316, with n. 8). The excavators, Quibell and Hayter (1927, p. 15, pl. 21,4) dated the burial to the "early M.K. or first intermediate period," while Brovarski (1978, introduction) placed it considerably earlier, refering to it as "a tomb of Dynasties 9-10." But it is uncertain that the contents of the shaft can be convincingly dated to the time before the reunification of Egypt by Mentuhotep II; the coffins of lnpuemhat (Sq9-10C) are dated to the Middle Kingdom by T. G. Allen 1950, pp. 34-35. Tiradritti 1999, p. 129, refers to the burial as "early Twelfth Dynasty."

15

Weber 1914; for discussion, see §1.2, below. There are several reasons that may account for this relative disregard of canopies made of such a lowly material as clay. As aesthetic objects canopic jars as a class rank relatively low in museum collections-unless they are carved of alabaster or limestone-and they are easily overlooked for prominent display or for publication; they are more often assigned to the shelves of storage magazines. In ceramic shape typologies, canopic jars show far less variation than items of utilitari an use and thereby offer less precise information for dating purposes. According to Bourriau 1981, p. 113, "the shape of the jar, once established during the Old Kingdom (2628-2134 BC), changed only slightly until canopic jars went out of use." Many examples are uninscribed, thus exciting

marls, to the extent that they cannot be considered reflective of the potter's overall output; they are indeed specialty items. Canopic jar lids, because of their large number and the wide variety of clays used in their manufacture, may well prove to be a more promising and representative group than ceramic sculpture or figure vases with which to examine the question of how ceramic was utilized in the fashioning of the human form, and specifically the rendering of the human face in clay. The disadvantage in undertaking the study of such a corpus is that there are few ceramic canopic jars published in sufficient detail to draw sure conclusions in regard to their manufacture from existing publications alone: direct observation is necessary in almost every instance to confirm construction details.1 6

l6

4

Introduction

Faces in Clay

5

For a number of reasons, canopic jar lids in particular represent a suitable corpus for a study

volume is a selection of ceramic canopic jar lids in the collections of the Egyptian Museum in

of typical shaping methods: they consist of a relatively large number of examples; they are

Cairo, the British Museum and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London, the

remarkably consistent in terms of scale, form, and function; and since the primary purpose of

Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Musee du Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art

the lids was not to hold contents of any kind, the associated issues of vessel function and shape

in New York, and the Ori_ental Institute Museum in Chicago. Most of the lids are datable by

can be largely disregarded as a determining feature, unlike other types of ceramic containers.

provenance or style to the 18th Dynasty, although a few are of Middle Kingdom and later New

Moreover, since most were initially formed on the wheel out of a variety of fabrics, as small

Kingdom date as well; certainly these examples could be multiplied many times over by similar

bowls

to

be adapted as lids, they are also a potentially rewarding area of ceramic study because

there is no doubt as to their origin at the hands of a potter. It must be kept in mind, however, II

lids in collections around the world. Archaeological objects are generally treated typologically for the purposes of classification,

that the canopic lids considered in this study can in no way be considered a completely typical"

and in fact one of the primary goals of this study is to develop a workable typology for the

product of the pottery workshop, destined as they were for specific funerary purposes. They

manufacture of canopic lids. The central issue that underlies this typological scheme, however,

were doubtless created only at a limited number of sites, and perhaps in proximity

and which cuts across all its subcategories, is the more interesting phenomenon of the human

to

ateliers

face preserved in fired clay. Establishing a framework for classification, while useful for

fashioning other required items of mortuary equipment. One striking fact should be mentioned immediately. In the course of the numerous museum

drawing conclusions that may ultimately pertain to provenance, fabric, or funerary custom, does

visits occasioned by this study, it became apparent that the frequent assertion regarding the use

not by itself answer broader questions, such as the degree of cooperation between the Egyptian

of molds as an aspect of the manufacture of canopic lids is certainly

mistaken. 17

Of all the

potter and his fellow artisans, or whether or not canopic lids are to be viewed as objets d'art on a

methods for working out the features of the human face on these lids, molding is never

par with stone sculpture. In addition, there are conceptual questions to be addressed, in the

represented among them. In light of the need to create ceramic canopic jar lids by the hundreds

spheres of both lexicography and religious imagery. In view of the typology developed for the

and even thousands, molds might seem an obvious-perhaps an inevitable-solution to the

canopic lids, which is reflective of artisanal collaboration, the various connotations of the verb

pressures of mass production, but despite the utilization of molds in certain other areas of the

qd should be considered as well:

ceramic corpus of the New Kingdom, they were consistently avoided for canopic jar lids. The

wheel); to create." The richness of meaning contained in this word alone suggests that its

determination that molds were never employed for this purpose leads to one of the more

ancient usage is directly applicable to the very practical challenges of working clay and to the

interesting conclusions of this study: the human face was worked out by a variety of hand

question of the creation of man's image in malleable fabrics. And while the role of Khnum as

methods that are, in many cases, diagnostic of expertise beyond the potter's ken.

the potter god who fashions individual mortals is a frequent theme in literature and temple

11

to form, fashion; to build; to form vessels (on a potter's

As already mentioned, this study is generally confined to lids dating roughly to the New

relief, it has not yet been recognized that the potter's wheel is a symbol of solar regeneration in

Kingdom, and especially to the 18th Dynasty, but a few other examples have been included for

the hands of the sun god-and has its basis in practical craftsmanship. It will be the purpose of

reasons of contrast or comparison. 18 The corpus examined here should by no means be

this monograph to consider the rendering of human faces in clay, not only in their physical

considered exhaustive: the intent is not to present a complete catalogue of jar lids, nor to

manifestation on ceramic canopic jar lids, but also in the way in which their creation at the

propose a secure system for dating canopic jars, but

hands of ancient artisans may have been conceptualized in other spheres of pharaonic

to

investigate the major techniques of lid

manufacture in order to suggest guidelines for classification and study. The basis for the present

only desultory interest on the part of scholars interested in prosopography or formulaic texts; see, for example, Sethe 1934 and Reisner 1899. To this class probably belong the "grotesque heads" in fired ceramic that seem to have been fashioned as lids and are only roughly modeled: see Garstang 1900, pl. 23, tomb E291; and Adams 1986, pp. 22-26, pls. 2, 11-13. See, for example, Cassirer 1955, p. 125: "the other stopper (K) is entirely hand-moulded with similar traces of pigmentation"; Bourriau 1981, p. 113: "lid shaped by hand, face moulded"; and Patch 1990, p. 55: "a mold containing the facial features was pressed into one side of the lid, after which the craftsman finished the details by hand." 18 Another obvious limitation, for reasons of direct typological comparison, is that only human-headed lids have been considered. It is clear that the heads of the jackal, baboon, and falcon, which regularly adorn canopic sets

17

beginning with the late 18th Dynasty, required a significantly different manufacturing approach than h.u man heads, and for that reason have not been included here.

civilization.

Sculptural Forms in Clay

7

II

The theory that the sudden flowering of "figural types of ceramic objects in ancient Egypt must be due to foreign influence-and is of relatively late date-is of long standing. For

1. SCULPTURAL FORMS IN CLAY

example, according to Weber, "iiberall bietet Agypten dem Topfer guten Ton.

Aber zur

figurlichen Feinkunst ist ~r in der vorgriechischen Zeit nicht haufig benutzt werden. "20 In "Unter dem Begriff K[ eramik] fa{h man alle nicht-figiirlichen

another early commentary on pottery, Petrie. states that _"in the XVIIIth-XXVth dynasties a

Gegenstande aus gebranntem Ton zusammen (zu den figiir-

large use of roughly modelled ushabti figures of servants prevailed. But it is rarely that the other

LA 3

modelling is apart from foreign influence . . . The great age of pottery figures begins with the

lichen s. ::·Terrakotten)." -

Do. Arnold, "Keramik,"

modelled heads of foreigners from the foreign quarter of Memphis, certainly due to Greek

(1980), col. 392.

admixture. 1121

More recently, James has asserted that "after the Predynastic Period it is

"In der ag. Kunst stellen kleinformatige Bildwerke aus

probably true to say that the Egyptians showed little predilection for the use of clay for plastic

gebranntem Ton, im Unterschied zu Fayencefiguren, eine

forms . . . . It is not until the Late Period that terracotta becomes typical, as a result of the

Seltenheit dar. Wo sie in der SpZt in grogerer Zahl auftreten,

increasing influence of the Greek and later hellenistic world upon the daily life of Egypt. 11 22

sind es Zeugnisse fremder, vornehmlich griech. oder griech.

Even the appearance of relatively short-lived trends in the ceramic record, such as painted

gepragter Kultur." -

decoration and fancy figure vases during the 18th Dynasty, has been interpreted as the result of

"Terrakotten,"

W. Hornbostel and H.-P. Laubscher,

LA 6 (1986), col. 425.

contact between Egypt during its period of international dominance and other countries of the Levant. 23

The opening sentences of the entries 11 Keramik 11 and "Terrakotten 11 in the encyclopedic Lexikon

For obvious reasons, ancient Egyptian ceramic products are most often discussed under the

der Agyptologie mark a clear distinction-on the basis of typology, chronology, and foreign

category of table or storage wares, that is, containers manufactured for specific household or

contact-between utilitarian objects made of ceramic and "kleinformatigen Bildwerken aus

funerary functions. While ancient potters produced ceramic vessels in uncounted numbers,

gebranntem Ton." To be sure, this distinction is not as clear-cut as these two Lexikon citations,

they also fashioned anthropomorphic and theriomorphic figures on a regular basis, either as

made in a generalizing context, imply; nor is it one with which the respective authors would

objects in their own right or as supplementary decoration to their normal pottery repertoire. As

necessarily concur. Dorothea Arnold, in discussing the enormous range of ceramic as a medium

Ballet has justly observed, 11 ri.otre regard de moderne, tendant

of manufacture in Egyptian culture, takes careful note of significant groups of ceramic objects

productions massives et utilitaires (ceramique) des temoignages iconographiques (figurines), doit

that do in fact bear the human image, particularly funerary equipment such as ushabtis and

etre reoriente en fonction de ces relations structurelles unissant les principales branches de

magical images such as execration figures. 19 The concern of Hornbostel and Laubscher, on the

l'artisanat de la terre cuite en Egypte. 1124 In one sense, the occurrence of ceramic plastic forms,

other hand, is strictly the class of molded terracotta figurines manufactured during the

representing both humans and animals, in all periods of Egyptian history is such a common

Hellenistic and Roman periods in Egypt, a group of objects that is well defined as to technique,

phenomenon that it hardly needs to be demonstrated. 25 But whether such forms qualify as the

a dissocier les phenomenes de

chronological range, and locality. Nonetheless, in such a widely consulted reference work as the 20

Weber1914,p.5.

21

figural material related exclusively to a late historical period in Egypt te~ds to perpetuate a

Petrie 1923, p. 132.

22

distinction within the category of ceramic objects as a whole that must be considered somewhat

23

James 1979, p. 212. For example, Kayser 1969, p . 95: "ebenfalls