Decorated Jar with Boat Scenes

Cleveland Museum of Art

Decorated Jar with Boat Scenes

Date
c. 3300–3100 BCE
Medium
marl clay pottery
Culture
Egypt, Predynastic (5000–2950 BCE), Naqada IIc–d (3650–3300 BCE)
Department
Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
94084

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

The decoration painted on this jar shows two multi-oared boats traveling through fertile riverbanks lined with trees and aloe bushes. Rows of triangles indicate the desert hills in the background. The Nile was Egypt’s primary means of transportation and communication, since river traffic was far more efficient than travel by land. The concept of boat travel permeated all aspects of Egyptian life and religion. The sun god Ra was believed to travel by boat across the heavens by day and through the underworld by night. Funerary texts describe the trip to the afterlife as a journey by boat, and scenes of boats figured prominently in tomb decoration.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Provenance
Probably Upper Egypt. Purchased from Mohammed Mohasseb, Luxor, by Lucy Olcott Perkins through Henry W. Kent, 14 May 1913

Part of a LinkedCulture topic

  • Representative object from the topic Ancient Egyptian Vessels and Jars
    Ancient Egyptian Vessels and Jars

    All objects are vessels, jars, or containers from ancient Egypt spanning from the Predynastic through New Kingdom periods, made from various materials including stone, pottery, and faience.

    91 objects from 4 institutions

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