Collection record · Everyday wonders
Decorated Jar with Boat Scenes
The collection record classifies this work as vessels. It is dated c. 3300–3100 BCE. Recorded culture or place: Egypt, Predynastic (5000–2950 BCE), Naqada IIc–d (3650–3300 BCE).
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Decorated Jar with Boat Scenes
- Date
- c. 3300–3100 BCE
- Culture / origin
- Egypt, Predynastic (5000–2950 BCE), Naqada IIc–d (3650–3300 BCE)
- Materials and technique
- marl clay pottery
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 28.2 cm (11 1/8 in.); Diameter of mouth: 15.2 cm (6 in.); Overall: 32 cm (12 5/8 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1914.639
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
The decoration painted on this jar shows two multi-oared boats traveling through fertile riverbanks lined with trees and aloe bushes. Rows of triangles indicate the desert hills in the background. The Nile was Egypt’s primary means of transportation and communication, since river traffic was far more efficient than travel by land. The concept of boat travel permeated all aspects of Egyptian life and religion. The sun god Ra was believed to travel by boat across the heavens by day and through the underworld by night. Funerary texts describe the trip to the afterlife as a journey by boat, and scenes of boats figured prominently in tomb decoration.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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