Situla with Religious Scenes in Raised Relief
Description
Object Label: Vessels of this shape, known as situlae, were used for carrying liquids during religious ceremonies. These smaller-sized situlae are models of the much larger vessels employed in temple rituals and likely served as temple votive offerings. Each situla depicts a worshipper standing or kneeling before a row of gods led by the ithyphallic god Amun- Min, a symbol of regeneration. Two of these pieces are inscribed with a prayer asking Isis to grant life to a named dedicator. The lotus petals at the bottom symbolize rebirth. Caption: Situla with Religious Scenes in Raised Relief, 305–30 B.C.E.. Bronze, gold, 5 3/16 x Diam. 1 3/4 in. (13.1 x 4.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.582E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A bronze situla (ritual vessel) with a handle and raised-relief decoration depicting religious figures or deities standing within a register on the front.
The object is a small, narrow-bodied vessel with two side loop handles rising above the rim and a flaring, footed base. The surface is covered by weathering/patina typical of bronze. The front decoration shows two standing, human-shaped figures rendered in raised relief within a rectangular/segmented field, with a smaller element at the top of the panel and a banded/stacked motif below; the lower zone includes a cross-hatched or triangular border pattern. No clearly legible hieroglyphic inscription is visible in this image, though the relief forms may include iconographic elements rather than text. The image does not show any obvious gold overlay; the visible metal appears uniformly bronze/metallic brown. Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is not visible.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.582E tier-2
- BKM-Object 117223 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- 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.