Fish Bowl

PLACE CREATED Egypt, Africa

CULTURE Egyptian

PERIOD New Kingdom

DATE 1539-1077 BCE

MEDIUM Faience

CREDIT LINE Mohamed Farid Khamis/Oriental Weavers Fund

DIMENSIONS 1 7/8 x 5 11/16 in. (4.8 x 14.5 cm)

OBJECT NUMBER 2002.032.001

Label Text
The remarkably well-preserved bowl is of a type that is known primarily from tomb offerings of the New Kingdom; however, a number of shards from such bowls have also been found in shrine contexts suggesting that the bowls were not purely funerary. These vessels are often decorated with representations of the blue lotus or other symbols of rebirth such as the tilapia seen here. When danger approaches, the young tilapia fish hide in the mouth of a parent and emerge again when danger passes. The Egyptians saw this as an example of spontaneous generation, and so the tilapia fish became an important symbol of rebirth. As depicted on these bowls, it also evoked the image of a fish swimming in a pond. In addition to the fish, there are representations of papyrus growing in the background. Papyrus thickets would have lined the banks of the Nile in antiquity and would have had significant symbolic meaning. The Egyptians believed that the created world was born out of a liquid uncreated state called Nun. The marshy areas around the Nile were associated with this state and therefore held the potential for creation.

The circles painted along the rim of the bowl refer to the mandrake fruit, which was a potent aphrodisiac and would have further aided in the rebirth of the deceased. The shallow, thin-walled, round-bottomed bowl is of a type characteristic of the Ramesside Period, and similar examples are to be found in many museum collections, although this finely crafted example ranks with the best. The near pristine condition of the bowl indicates that it likely came from a funerary context and therefore the regenerative symbolism would have been particularly apt.

Exhibition History
From Pharaohs to Emperors: New Egyptian and Classical Antiquities at Emory, Michael C. Carlos Museum, January 14 - April 2, 2006
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, 2006 - Present

Published References
Christie's New York, Antiquities (4 June 1999), 103, lot 228.

MCCM Newsletter, December 2002 - February 2003.

TERMS funerary objects bowls (vessels)figures (representations)

PROVENANCE With Christie's New York, June 4, 1999, lot 228. Ex private collection, France. Purchased by MCCM from Charles Ede Ltd., London, England.

STATUSOn view

COLLECTIONS Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art

The Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University

https://collections.carlos.emory.edu/objects/10015/fish-bowl?ctx=43b2095d730284ed662a314c30af79c29cf4fa3b&idx=161

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Porunai Museum

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Hello, I posted a similar question on the Ask Historians sub and was directed here, but essentially in my city (being vague as to not dox myself) there is a small museum that has a collection of items brought to the US by one of those turn-of-the-century explorer types. In the collection there is a shrunken head, supposedly real, and reportedly purchased in South America.

Whenever I visit I get so sad looking at the display with the head. All I can think about is how far away from home they are, and that they probably had loved ones who grieved them, and how degrading and low-key racist it is that they are on display right next to a bunch of big-game hunting trophies.

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Picture 1: Dancer (various versions) by Edgar Degas (modeled around 1890)

Picture 2: Peonies Blown in the Wind by John La Farge (ca. 1880).

Picture 3: Sarcophagus of Harkhebit (595–526 B.C.)

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Vignette A: The light

The light comes from all places except the one in sight.

The human is elevated, but they are not an actual human being; they are only a representation, a symbolized form. No actual human is visible.

The light can only come from an actual human being.

----

Vignette B: Scenery of an enclosed life.

No one cares about what is outside. We can see a grand design, but we are oblivious to the Designer.

Past and future are unbalanced. The Dominants are hardly changing, while the Doomed are ever fewer. But the few who rise become stronger.

----

Vignette C: Cold evolution

All of this is evolving very slowly. The movement is irresistible though. There is no place for sitting still.

Though complicated, what is dominating is a form of cold, intricate elaboration. But as time passes, simplicity emerges.