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Lotus

BOWL WITH FISH AND LOTUS

This bowl is painted with papyrus and blue lotus flowers along with two tilapia. In ancient Egypt, fish and plant life symbolized fertility, rebirth, and regeneration. The blue lotus was linked to the sun’s rebirth each morning because the flower closes at night and reopens in the morning to reveal a central yellow circle radiating yellow petals.

The marsh bowls were part of temple offerings and tomb furnishings and were particularly common during the early Eighteenth Dynasty. Many pottery fragments with marshland imagery have been found at temples and shrines dedicated to the goddess Hathor, who was associated with fertility and rebirth. When found in burials, the bowls decorated with the fertility images were meant to facilitate the deceased’s rebirth.

Object Number

F1909.71

Date

ca. 1539–1075 BCE, New Kingdom

Place of Origin

Egypt

Medium

Faience (glazed composition) with paint

Dimensions

H × W × D: 7.7 × 20.9 × 20.9 cm
(3 1/16 × 8 1/4 × 8 1/4 in.)

Credit line

Gift of Charles Lang Freer