![](https://www.mfab.hu/app/uploads/2018/10/21493.jpg)
Fragment of a Bowl
Egyptian Art
Place of production | Egypt |
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Date | 747–332 BC |
Object type | statuette |
Medium, technique | limestone, carved, traces of painting on the reverse |
Dimensions | 9.3 × 4.7 × 2 cm |
Inventory number | 84.148-E |
Collection | Egyptian Art |
On view | This artwork is not on display |
Soft limestone plaque with relief decoration that represents a group of ancient Egyptian works of figural arts depicting females reclining on a bed or crouching, standing alone or accompanied by a small-sized figure of a child, sometimes bordered by images of vessels, cosmetic tools or various objects of daily use. This type seems to have been introduced in the New Kingdom and continued to be used until the end of the Late Period, and includes specimens made primarily of terracotta and limestone, rarely faience.
This piece is heavily damaged; the entire front side is worn out. The figure is crudely, roughly modelled, its gender can only be inferred from the posture characteristic of the type: she reclines with tightly closed legs; her arms are lying by the side of the body. Her body proportions are distorted; neither the coiffure and the facial details, nor the sexual characteristics are indicated. Her left arm is significantly longer and thicker than her right one, and the legs are also disproportionately thick. No figure of a child is present.
Prevailing scholarly theories tend to label these objects as fertility figurines that may have been deposited as votive offerings in tombs, domestic shrines and temples of the goddesses Hathor, Mut or Anuket to promote successful conception and grant divine blessings in the perilous time of early childhood.
This record is subject to revision due to ongoing research.