Bowl

Period Predynastic Period (Ancient Egyptian, about 4,500–3,100 BCE)

Place of OriginEgypt, Balabish necropolis

Date18th Dynasty (1550-1292 BCE) or Predynastic Period (4500-3100 BCE)

Dimensions2 3/4 × 3 7/8 in. (7 × 9.8 cm)

MediumBlack-topped redware.

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineEgypt Exploration Fund

Object number

1915.78

Not on View

DescriptionBlack-topped redware, earthenware with carbonized decoration.

Label TextThis red and black ceramic bowl was found in 1915 at Balabish, a cemetery site in Upper Egypt. Though it resembles Predynastic pottery, it likely dates to the Eighteenth Dynasty (about 1550–1292 BCE) and may have belonged to a Pan-Grave burial. The Pan-Grave people were a Nubian group who lived in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period and early New Kingdom. They are named for their distinctive circular burial pits (“pan-graves”), often shallow and lined with stones. Their pottery blended Egyptian shapes with Nubian techniques, and this bowl’s hybrid style reflects both cultural exchange and shifting identitiesPublished ReferencesLuckner, Kurt T., "The Art of Egypt, Part 1," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 14, no. 1, Spring 1971, p. 5, repr. fig. 1.

Comparative ReferencesCf. de Souza, Aaron, “Paint it Black: Pan‑Grave Black‑Topped and Egyptian Black‑Rimmed Pottery of the Late Second Intermediate Period and Early New Kingdom,” in David, Romain, ed., Céramiques égyptiennes au Soudan ancien: Importations, imitations et influences, Cairo, Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 2018, pp. 75–90.

Cf. Stevenson, Alice, “Collecting in America’s Progressive and Gilded Eras (1880–1919),” Chapter 2 in Scattered Finds: Archaeology, Egyptology and Museums, London, UCL Press, 2019.

Cf. Graves, Carl, “Balabish: rediscovering an expedition,” Birmingham Egyptology, University of Birmingham, 2016.

Cf. de Souza, Aaron, “Not Marginal, But Marginalised: The ‘Pan-Grave’ Archaeological Culture, Pharaonic Egypt, and Egyptology,” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, vol. 9, no. 2, July 2022, pp. 173–194.