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

Ovoid jar

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

Description

Jar, ovoid. Early Dynastic Period, Dynasty 1, ca. 3100–2649 B.C. Pottery. H. 18 cm (7 1/16 in.); Diam. 13 cm (5 1/8 in.). From: Tarkhan, Fayum Entrance Area, Egypt. Excavation: BSAE excavations 1911-1913. Credit: Gift of The Egyptian Research Account and British School of Archaeology in Egypt, 1912.

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 plain ovoid ceramic jar with a rounded body and narrow neck/opening, photographed against a neutral background.

The object is a pottery vessel shaped like an ovoid jar: it has a rounded, bulbous body that tapers slightly toward the top and a relatively narrow mouth/neck. The surface is reddish-brown with weathering and small pits/abrasions, suggesting age or firing irregularities. A thin lip/edge is visible at the rim. No painted decoration, relief, or appliqué ornamentation is clearly visible. No hieroglyphic, Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible on the exterior surface in this image. No cartouches or royal names can be identified, and no deities are depicted.

daily life Early Dynastic Period (catalogue ground truth; visual details alone insufficient to refine) poor
Materials pottery (ceramic fabric)

Connections

Found at Tarkhan
Materials Pottery
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.