Model libation vase

Model libation (hes) vases were standard items of equipment in the royal tombs of the New Kingdom at Thebes, though there is no evidence to suggest that the present example, excellent in quality and elegant in form, originates from that location. It must, however, have been part of the funerary furnishings of a person of rank. A comparable though much taller example is illustrated by Riefstahl (1968. no. 34, pl. x), who also quotes parallels from the tomb of Tutankhamun (ibid.: 100). In the present vase there is a shallow indentation in the top.

Entry taken from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection 3 volume catalogue, edited by Steven Hooper (Yale University Press, 1997).