Amphora

Place of OriginEgypt

DateRoman Period, about 50 BCE-100CE

DimensionsH. 7 1/16 in. (17.9 cm); Diam. 5 7/16 in. (13.8 cm)

MediumTin-glazed earthenware with applied decoration

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1969.370

Not on View

Label TextThe low-relief decoration with blue-green glaze on this dark blue vessel represents stylized cos lettuce, symbol of the fertility god Min. At Min’s temples at Coptos and Akhmim (Panopolis), festivals celebrated the beginning of the harvest season. Wild, prickly cos lettuce, which Egyptians believed was an aphrodisiac, was part of the worship ritual.Published ReferencesLuckner, Kurt T. "The Art of Egypt, Part 2." Toledo Museum News, New Series: Vol. 14, No. 3, Fall 1971. p. 77, repr. Fig. 19, p. 79.

Grimm, Gunter. "Two Early Imperial Faience Vessels from Egypt," Miscellanea Wilbouriana, Brooklyn, 1972. p. 74, note 9.

Peck, William H., Sandra E. Knudsen and Paula Reich, Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2011, p. 97, repr. (col.).

Puma, Richard Daniel de, Art In Roman Life: Villa to Grave, Rome, L'erma di Bretschneider, 2009, p. 91, repr. (col.) p. 90, fig. 47.

Exhibition HistoryCedar Rapids Museum of Art, Art in Roman Life: Villa to Grave, September 2003 - August 2005 (no catalogue).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, October 29, 2010-January 8, 2012.