Day 7 - Double vessel with embracing monkeys





January 15, 2018
Gallery 106 is described as a "study gallery."  One case says that the objects come from the museum's excavations of Middle Kingdom tombs (ca. 1900 B.C.); perhaps all the objects in the room are from the same period, but the other displays say only that labels are currently beng prepared for them. Some thngs that particularly get my attention: a blue faience bowl painted inside with fine lnes that suggest something vegetal; a small blue faience lion striding forward; a statuette of a nude woman holding a child hgh in her arms, very Madonna-esque; and another statuette of a woman whose body is pierced with many small holes. (Was this last ffigure originally attached to something? Do the holes have another meaning?)

What I want to write about, just because it makes me smile, is a small double vessel, perhaps 4 inches tall, of two mnkeys facing each other. They are sitting on their haunches, their knees folded up in front of them and touching the other monkey's knees; their human-like feet overlap each other, and they are holding each other's elbows. The head of the monkey on the left looks as if it has been chipped a bit, and the forms are suggestive rather than finely carved, but their profiles are ineffably, unmistakably simian. When I stand up straight, I can see the holes,on top of their heads. Were similar objects used for drinking (and if so, what did they contain, and how could you lift one side without spilling from the other side)?  Did the vessel have another use, like holding an offering to the monkey-god? (It's hard to imagine that it was strictly decorative.)
 In any event, the artisan had a good sense of humor!

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