AN EGYPTIAN POTTERY MOTHER'S MILK VESSEL

NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, REIGNS OF THUTMOSIS III TO AMENHOTEP III, CIRCA 1479-1352 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN POTTERY MOTHER'S MILK VESSEL
NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, REIGNS OF THUTMOSIS III TO AMENHOTEP III, CIRCA 1479-1352 B.C.
Of red burnished pottery, in the form of a woman kneeling, her feet tucked beneath her, wearing a broad wig with two tresses falling in front and a long plait falling down her back, with details of a beaded necklace and the open side of her dress in black paint, cradling a child in her arms, seated astride her lap with its head turned to the left, the spout emerging from the top of her head, a loop handle behind, details in added red and black
5 in. (12.7 cm.) high

Provenance

with Spink & Son Ltd, London.
Private collection, Rotterdam, acquired from the above 15 February 1961; and thence by descent to the present owner.

Brought to you by

Georgiana Aitken

gaitken@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3002

Lot Essay

According to G. Robbins (Reflections of Women in the New Kingdom: Ancient Egyptian Art from The British Museum, San Antonio, 1995, pp. 74-75, no. 39), these vessels were produced during a very limited period, between the reigns of Thutmosis III to Amenhotep III, perhaps in a single workshop. Each is distinctive with no two identical. Their precise function remains uncertain; however, it is the consensus that the vessel represents a wet nurse. Each vessel would hold a liquid capacity equal to the milk from a woman's breast during a normal feeding. The milk would have been from a mother who had given birth and could have been used in many medicinal remedies, as described in the Ebers Medical Papyrus, for example. For similar, cf. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1985.336), the Musée du Louvre (AF 1660) and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden (AT 169).

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