Vessel in the Form of an Ostrich Egg (c. 1540–1296 BCE): Art, History and Details

Vessel in the Form of an Ostrich Egg (c. 1540–1296 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Both ancient Egyptian men and women loved cosmetics. Unguents, oils, and perfumes made from aromatic plant resins and gums were obtained at great cost from distant lands. The objects identified with cosmetics were given lavish treatment. Here the fanciful form is an ostrich egg.

Object facts

• Title: Vessel in the Form of an Ostrich Egg
• Date: c. 1540–1296 BCE
• Culture: Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18
• Type: Vessels
• Technique: travertine
• Dimensions: Diameter: 8.2 cm (3 1/4 in.); Diameter of mouth: 3.5 cm (1 3/8 in.); Overall: 8.6 cm (3 3/8 in.)
• Collection: Egypt - New Kingdom
• Department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Accession number: 1914.620

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Kozloff, Arielle P. Egypt’s Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his world. Cleveland : Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1992.
• Bohač, Ken. “When Is a Stone Just a Stone: Two New Kingdom Vessels in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 2 (1997): 6–15.
• Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999

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.