Dish in Form of Seashell
Description
Object Label: Vessels Ancient Egyptian artists produced vessels in both glass and faience, producing different effects with each material. The Egyptians began manufacturing glass vessels during the Eighteenth Dynasty reign of Thutmose III (circa 1479–1425 B.C.E.). Early examples, valued for their rarity and beauty, were luxury items used to store precious oils and perfumes. Craftsmen produced striking effects by adding threads of colored glass to a vessel’s surface while it was still hot and then dragging a pointed object across the surface to produce festooned patterns. The artist who made the fish flask shown here indicated the animal’s scales by pressing blue powdered glass down into the interior. Early scholars often incorrectly characterized faience as simply an inexpensive substitute for glass, but recent research suggests that the Egyptians favored the material because of its attractive color and its association with water, the source of creation. A characteristic type of Eighteenth Dynasty faience vessel is the shallow bowl. Early in the dynasty, artists painted the interiors of these bowls with marsh scenes including fish and water plants; later painters introduced human figures. Caption: Dish in Form of Seashell, ca. 1390–1292 B.C.E.. Glass, 7/8 x 2 5/8 x 4 5/8 in. (2.2 x 6.6 x 11.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.599E. (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 turquoise-blue, glass-like shallow dish/plate is shown in an oval shape reminiscent of a seashell form.
The image depicts a small, flat, oval dish with a raised rim and scallop-like edge detail along one side. The surface is predominantly turquoise/blue with darker mottling and a speckled appearance consistent with weathering, oxidation, or manufacturing irregularities often seen in glass objects. The dish is photographed against a light background and supported/held by two small pointed mounts or stands beneath the rim. No carved or painted figural imagery is visible; the object appears purely decorative in its seashell-like profile. No hieroglyphs or inscriptions are visible, and there is no identifiable cartouche or royal name.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.599E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4052 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.