Egyptian Art
Art Appreciation
Assignment 2: The Art of the Container
Date: 3/01/2005
The Art of the Container During The Ancient Egyptian Time Period
During the ancient Egyptian time period, the container was a widely used product. It was used for various different things. The one major use of the container was for food and water. The people would use clay to carve bowls and jugs to hold things in. Since water was a scarce commodity during this time period, jugs were widely used to hold water and store it in. The Egyptian people would design these jugs and bowls with all kinds of ideas. Many bowls and jugs had art and writings on them.
Stela of Mentuwoser, ca. 1955 B.C.E.; Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret I, year 17; Middle Kingdom, is a piece of art that is now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This piece of art is rectangular stone slab, with a man sitting at a table with his son and daughter giving him food. His son is handing him a jug that contains some type of drink, as if he is the king being treated for a feast.
The Egyptian people didn’t only make bowls to hold water and food, They made large round clay bowls to carry all types of things from place to place. The people would put the bowl on the top of there heads and walk miles from one location to another carrying what ever they needed place to place. A piece of art that caught my eye is Bowl with Human Feet, ca. 3750–3550 B.C.E. This piece of art is of a bowl made from Nile Clay. This bowl has two feet attached to the bottom of it because it would stand over the tomb to present offerings from the living to the deceased. This was an ancient Egyptian
practice that was established part of funerary rituals.
The Egyptian people had many uses for containers, some were candle holders, vases, water holders, perfume bottles, smoking pipes, and oil warmers. Another piece of art that I found very...
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