Decorated Jar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 2010

[One of] Three Decorated Jars
1st century AD
Faience

Accession Numbers: 07.228.76, 21.2.3, 44.4.46

Stately bicolor faience vessels with fine leafy ornament have been found fairly frequently in Alexandria, the Fayum towns, and Middle Egypt. In the course of the first century AD, the bodies of such vessels were covered with more and more decoration.

The jar with figural decoration is said to be from the Fayum; vases of this type were a principal production of the Memphite faience workshop. A single fine blue glaze was used, but the color pools to a violet-blue in the incised decoration covering the vase. Below several registers with vegetal decoration is one that includes a winged animal, a rabbit, a gazelle (?), a bird, and a griffin. The bottom of the vessel is in the form of a lotus calyx.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.