Decorated Situla (305–30 BCE): Art, History and Details

Decorated Situla (305–30 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The situla was a deluxe ritual vessel that played an important role in Egyptian religious ceremonies. The two scenes on this situla exemplify the dual roles of a pious Egyptian in the afterlife: receiving offerings from his family on the one hand and making offerings to the gods on the other. On one side of the vessel the deceased, Padiamennebnesuttawy ("He who Amen, lord of Karnak, gives"), sits in a low chair accompanied by his pet dog. The vertical, cross-shaped sign preceding the animal is his name, Nefer, meaning "good one" or "beautiful one." On the right, the deceased's eldest son, Amenhotep, makes offerings of incense and water to his father. On the other side the deceased demonstrates his piety by making an offering of round loaves of bread, vegetables, and meat to the gods. Opposite him are the gods who are the recipients of his offerings—Osiris, god of the dead; Horus, son of Isis; and Isis herself—each of whom wears elaborate beaded and feathered garments.

Object facts

• Title: Decorated Situla
• Date: 305–30 BCE
• Culture: Egypt, Greco-Roman period (332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE)
• Type: Vessels
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Diameter: 15.5 cm (6 1/8 in.); Diameter of mouth: 10.2 cm (4 in.); Overall: 28.3 cm (11 1/8 in.); with handle: 45.2 cm (17 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Egypt - Ptolemaic Dynasty
• Department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Accession number: 1932.32

Collection credit

The Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Mond, Sir Robert and Oliver H. Meyers. The Bucheum. London, England: The Egypt Exploration Society and Humphrey Milford, 1934.
• Fischer, Henry G. “More Ancient Egyptian Names of Dogs and Other Animals.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal 12 (1977): 173–178, fig. 1.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.