Day 18 - Wavy glass container
February 6, 2018
This study gllery (117) contains hundreds, if not thousands, of objects of stone, wood, ceramic, metal, reeds, alabaster, you name it, found in burials from about 1500 B.C. I like a limestone statue of a family grouping. It shows a seated man and woman, nude to the hips (except that she wears a wide necklace or maybe a breastplate). They face outward, and their arms circle each other's waists. The woman's gaze is so intense that it takes me a while to notice the small child seated between them; his head comes up to their knees. Other things I note: a tiny (2 inch high) clay (?) figure of a woman carrying what appears to be a baby wrapped, rebozo-style, in a cloak on her back, and another small figure, this one of faience (?), of a standing figure (Bes again?) clutching a barrel. I also like some small metal cutout figures of horned animals and a water bird.
What I would like to take home with me, though, is a delicate amphora-shaped vessel, slim and only about 4 inches high, including the pedestal on which it's mounted. Its graceful form isn't marred by the fact that it's missing a handle on its right side (In fact, I can see a raised place on the front, suggesting that there may have been a handle there as well; the back isn't visible.) Besides the elegance of the form, what really strikes me is the harmony and delicacy of the painting:. On the body, going two-thirds if the way down, are scallops of various widths (but the widest no more than a quarter-inch) painted white, gold, turquoise,and dark blue, all against a dark blue ground. The neck is decorated with wavy lines of white, gold, and dark blue. (It also seems possible that the whole object was first painted dark blue, and the other colors were then applied on top, letting the blue show through.) At the rim and the base are circles of white.
What did this contain? An oil for preserving the body? A powder for beautifying the face? In any case, it's a lovely object to bring into the afterlife--and it would look great on my dresser. I sudenly think of Freud and his collection of small antiquities, and I understand their allure. Such age, such beauty.
What I would like to take home with me, though, is a delicate amphora-shaped vessel, slim and only about 4 inches high, including the pedestal on which it's mounted. Its graceful form isn't marred by the fact that it's missing a handle on its right side (In fact, I can see a raised place on the front, suggesting that there may have been a handle there as well; the back isn't visible.) Besides the elegance of the form, what really strikes me is the harmony and delicacy of the painting:. On the body, going two-thirds if the way down, are scallops of various widths (but the widest no more than a quarter-inch) painted white, gold, turquoise,and dark blue, all against a dark blue ground. The neck is decorated with wavy lines of white, gold, and dark blue. (It also seems possible that the whole object was first painted dark blue, and the other colors were then applied on top, letting the blue show through.) At the rim and the base are circles of white.
What did this contain? An oil for preserving the body? A powder for beautifying the face? In any case, it's a lovely object to bring into the afterlife--and it would look great on my dresser. I sudenly think of Freud and his collection of small antiquities, and I understand their allure. Such age, such beauty.
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