ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Unguent Jar with Swivel Hinge

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodNew Kingdom

Date1539-1077 BCE

MediumCalcite (alabaster)

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions2 5/8 x 2 3/8 x 2 1/16 in., 181 g (6.7 x 6 x 5.2 cm, 6 3/8 oz.)

Object number2018.010.799

Label TextThe ancient Egyptians placed great importance on smelling good. Unguents and perfumed oils played a role in their daily and spiritual life. Resins and flora macerated and steeped in wine, animal fat, or vegetable oil were rubbed onto the skin. Homes were censed with kyphi (myrrh, juniper berries, incense, cypress, and camphor wood mixed with resin and aromatics) to purify the air. Perfumes were worn to mask bad odors.

Unguents and perfumes were stored in jars. Vessels with slightly tapered bodies closely resemble the bas-jar hieroglyph used in the ancient Egyptian words for unguent and ointment. Upon death, these items were placed in small wooden caskets and buried with the dead for their eternal use.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesHotel des Ventes, Marseille, Archeologie (26 Avril 1972), lot 7.
Melinda K. Hartwig, ed. Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 5.

ProvenancePurchased by Georges Ricard (1921-2012) from Hotel des Ventes, Marseille, France, April 26, 1972, lot 7. Ex coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, 1975-1982. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

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Not on view

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