Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · vessel

Miniature ointment jar

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Gneiss

AI image analysis claude-haiku-4-5

Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

A miniature vase or jar with a tapered cylindrical body and flared rim, crafted from gneiss stone with visible mottled patterning consistent with the material.

This is a finely worked miniature vessel typical of Old Kingdom Egyptian luxury goods. The object features a characteristic tapered body that gradually expands from a narrower base to a wider upper section, then terminates in a flared, flat rim. The surface shows the natural speckled and mottled patterning of gneiss stone, with darker and lighter areas visible throughout. The workmanship is refined, with smooth transitions between the body and the pedestal-like base. The proportions and design are consistent with vessels used for storing precious unguents or cosmetics in ancient Egypt. No visible inscriptions or hieroglyphic decoration are present on the visible surfaces.

decorative Old Kingdom good
Materials gneiss

Connections

Materials AlabasterGneiss

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116413383 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 07.228.91 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 543929 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.