Cosmetic vessel in the shape of a monkey

This is a small aryballos, i.e., a perfume, oil, or ointment vase of ancient Greek origin. The narrow rim is fragmented, while the handle at the back is intact. The vessel’s oval body is in the form of a squatting monkey, in front of which is a small relief of a crouching figure. The head of the figure is turned frontally towards the viewer. The monkey, appearing as a mother figure, has its left hand on the head of the sphinx-like figure, which is held as her offspring, and its right hand on its back. Although similar eyepaint jars are known, in this case the formal features of the aryballos are clear.

The monkey is the Chlorocebus aethiops, or grivet, an African savanna monkey, which was imported by the Egyptians from Sudan and Ethiopia, or from an even more exotic place, the ancient Punt of Eritrea on the Red Sea coast. The grivet is often portrayed as a pet of the female elite, and serves as a decoration for personal items, consequently, for our vase. Although in reality, keeping the animal unleashed is dangerous. Females protect their offsprings for a long period of time, so the animal was seen as a symbol of maternal care and protection, besides fertility. It was also a reference to the exotic regions from which the ingredients of the regenerating, rejuvenating oils and ointments kept in the vase originated.

The grivet has been a motif on figural cosmetic vessels since the Old Kingdom. From the Sixth Dynasty, there are vases made of travertine, i.e., Egyptian alabaster, which depict a monkey holding her offspring, with the offspring and mother facing each other in an embrace. These were presented by the king to his female courtiers on the occasion of his jubilee celebrations. A revival of this is this glazed Egyptian faience vase from the Late Period. Popular in the Mediterranean in the sixth century BCE, faience vessels show an Egyptian iconographic influence: they are often in the shape of monkeys, tilapia fish or hedgehogs. Many of these vessels come from the Greek-influenced Naucratis, and from Rhodes.

The monkey-shaped aryballos is also part of an object group that is featured with black spots imitating leopard skin on the backs of Egyptian faience figures. The leopard skin appeared on Amon’s ark, on offering lists and as a garment associated with fertility. This and the vase’s parallels date the object primarily to the 6th–5th centuries BCE.