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

Red polished ware jar

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

Description

Jar, red polished ware. Predynastic Period, ca. 3850–2960 B.C. Pottery. H. 29.7 × Diam. 17.5 cm (11 11/16 × 6 7/8 in.). From: Cemetery B, Tomb B186, Abadiya, Northern Upper Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: EEF excavations 1898–99. Credit: Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1899.

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 red polished ceramic jar with a rounded body and short, narrow neck, photographed against a dark background.

The image shows a single unfired-looking but polished red earthenware jar/vessel. The jar has a short cylindrical neck with a slightly everted rim, a broad rounded shoulder/body, and a pointed/rounded base. The surface appears uniformly reddish with visible polishing/smoothing and minor wear and scuffs consistent with handling. A pair of gold-colored metal supports/stand struts secures the vessel for display. No decorative relief, painted figural scene, or readable inscriptions are visible on the jar’s body or neck. The overall form and finish are consistent with a “red polished ware” vessel as described in the catalogue.

decorative Predynastic Period (per catalogue; visual features not sufficient for finer dating) good
Materials pottery/ceramicmetal (display stand/supports)

Connections

Found at Abadiya
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.