Ten ointment jars on a common pedestal

This object is made of light turquoise Egyptian faience typical of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty and has two rows of five vessels fixed on a common pedestal. The jars have a wide opening and rim, their bodies are short, squat, straight-walled, and cylindrical. This variant is the most common within the object type, which appeared primarily in the elite tombs of Lower Egypt in the Saite, that is, the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, and it seems that it was no longer used in the Thirtieth Dynasty. The shape of the jars is reminiscent of classic, individually made, stone ointment jars, mainly from the Old Kingdom. The revival and reinterpretation of classical models was a common phenomenon in the Saite Period.

The object group of ten jars on a common pedestal was used to store ointments in a funerary context, both for the so-called “opening of the mouth ritual”, a critical part of the funeral to revive the mummy, and for other rituals. All these were intended to support the rebirth of the deceased. Some pieces even have a dark, shiny substance at the bottom or on the walls of the jars.