Vase and lid

Foundation deposit, stone vessel

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 25.3.46a,b

Provenance

• Thebes: West Bank, temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, foundation deposits, deposit C

Description

Dimensions Height 14.3cm

Material(s) calcite

Calcite vase with lid.  Vase has flat base, ledged rim, cylindrical body and convave neck. Traces of oitment are visible inside. On the lid  and on the vase there are inscriptions in incised hieroglyphs, originally filled with blue paint. On the lid there are 3 horizontal lines of texts:
"Living Good Goddess Maat-ka-Ra, she made her building as her father's, Amun, during stretching the cord in Amun Djeser-djeseru, what she does being endowed with life like Ra for eternity (^1.ʿnḫ nṯr.t nfr(.t) Mȝʿt-kȝ-Rʿ jr.n.s m mnw. ^2. s n (j)t.s Jmn ḫt.f pḏ-šs ḥr Jmn ^3. Ḏsr-ḏsrw jr.s ʿnḫ.tj mj Rʿ ḏ.t)".

On the vase body text is arranged in two columns topped with pt-sign:

"Daughter of Ra, Hatshepsut, she made her building as her father's, Amun, during stretching the cord in Amun Djeser-djeseru, what she does being endowed with life (^1. sȝ.t Rʿ Jmn-ẖnm.t-ḥȝt-šps.wt jr.n.s m mnw.s (j)t.s ^2. Jmn ḫt.f pḏ sš ḥr Jmn Ḏsr-ḏsrw jr.s ʿnḫ.tj)".

Katarzyna Kapiec

History

Bibliography

• Weinstein James Morris, Foundation Deposits in Ancient Egypt, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Pennsylvania 1973, 158-159$
• Hayes William C., The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, The Hyksos Period and the New Kingdom, Cambridge, Mass. 1959, 85, fig. 47
• Roehrig Catharine H., Foundation deposits for the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, in: Roehrig Catharine H., Dreyfus Renée, Keller Cathleen A. (eds.), Hatshepsut. From Queen to Pharaoh, New Haven, London 2005, 144-145, fig. 76h
• Roehrig Catharine H., The Foundation Deposits of Hatshepsut's Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahari, in: Dorman Peter F., Bryan Betsy M., Galán José M. (eds.), Occasional Proceedings of the Theban Workshop. Creativity and Innovation in the Reign of Hatshepsut. Papers from the Theban Workshop 2010, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 69, Chicago 2014, 149, fig. 8.16
• Porter Bertha, Moss Rosalind L.B., Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings II. Theban Temples, 2nd ed., Oxford 1972, 368-369
• Winlock Herbert Eustis, Excavations at Deir el-Bahri 1911-1931, New York 1942, 89, pl. 42
• Serpico M, The Contents of Jars in Hatshepsut’s Foundation Deposit at Deir el-Bahri and their Significance for Trade, in: Aston David A., Bader Bettina, Gallorini Carla, Nicholson Paul, Buckingham Sarah (ed.), D. Aston, B. Bader, C. P. Nicholson, S. (Eds), Under the Potter’s Tree. Studies on Ancient Egypt Presented to Janine Bourriau on the Occasion of her 70th Birthday, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 204, Leuven, Paris, Walpole, MA 2011, 846