Featured More to this than meets the eye

So what does the decoration on the body of the vessel represent?

It looks like there is a wire framework outlining various square panels around the vessel. Do the panels contain images, symbols, etc. Is the framework made from attached wire, or is it stone or pottery?

Are there analogous rectangular decorations on other vessels?

The canopic jars are decorated with figures and scenes, so are there figures and scenes inside the squares, there sure seems to be something.

I find the "mulberry" shaped pillows all these canopic jars are sitting on to be an interesting shape. Is this supposed to be a human brain or a very ripe mulberry?

OK, talk amongst yourselves and then let me know all the answers.

John

 

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Interesting! I hadn't come across that before. Perhaps the vessel is a stylized version of a sema tawy, representing the union of upper and lower Egypt?

from monteprama.blogspot.com

to. sema-tawy , a composite sign that means union of the two lands (upper and lower Egypt), represented by the lotus (ger M26) and the papyrus (ger M15 = area of the Delta, lower Egypt) (1); b. the union sign (trachea + lungs?) (1); c. back of the statue of Senwosret I (c. 1961-1917 BC), with the sign union of the two lands (2); d. alabaster owl vase from the tomb of Tutankhamun (c. 1332 - 1323 BC, XVIII dynasty) (3) , composed by the sema-tawy sign, the sign for years , the sign ankh (life, power of life) and the sign for wasby domain. The whole composition, besides being finely elaborated, is readable as " the power of life and dominance support the union of the two lands in the years" (1).

 

Double post...

 

Uncanny: I just watched Short Circuit yesterday!

 

I'm talking amongst myself right now

There are two specimens listed in Dattari's original work. I typed the descriptions into Google Translate but the results weren't very satisfying, and the rubbings themselves show little supporting detail. My specimen is in the supplement at the end of D-S so there isn't a detailed description.

Pictures pencil rubbings of Dattari 286 and 287, from Dattari-Savio:



My coin, in Dattari-Savio supplement:



Poole's reference (British Museum Alexandrian and Nomes holdings, published 1892; none in Christensen's more recent followup which lists additions to the collection since publication of the first book):



Dattari's description of coins 286 and 287:



Google Translation of the reverse descriptions, which are imperfect:

286. Vase oenochoe right; above the three tyrsi lid? (so, Dattari says there is a lid. Hmm)

287. Similar; on the lid five uraei, above the front body, crown of horns, disk and feathers

How embarrassing. I should have included this information in the original post. However, I'm not sure he has it correct. Could the inverted teardrop-shaped protrusions be uraei? I guess they could be. I'd also overlooked a plate image in the original Dattari! Additional details can be seen. Are the decorations the same as on my coin? Hard to say.



Looking at my coin again, might the large protrusion at the top (the end of the handle, presumably) be a uraeus?

 

@TIF - i just clicked on your website link and had my mind blown! It is so beautifully done. Am I only just noticing something you have had up for a long while? It is perfect!

Edited to add- Is this thing a bird??!? A serpent god? I am lost and will watch from the sidelines.

 

Thanks, LaC! My website has been up for several years, and is at least a year behind in adding coins. A major update is needed. Every time I click on a coin I find a typo or copy/paste error or other mistake

 

This is pretty exciting to watch!

Your drawing is very convincing on what it could be. But, c'mon, the possibility it could also be this? Can't pass it up.

 

Some say the following ancient item is a whistle, others assume it's a smoking filter pipe. If the second possibility is correct, then it might fit this interesting thread.

 

Sorry guys, late to the party. Been in New Orleans for the week.

@TIF My first thought was that it was an ancient Hand Crank Ice Cream Maker...

That is my story, and I am sticking to it. Yeah, my scholarly input... and yeah, years ago, we used to make parts for these...

 

This coin of Augustus seems to show the same vase with more details: http://www.geminiauction.com/details.asp?inventorygroup=cc&inventorynumber=19346

 

Excellent find!! Thanks, Ed! Great details of the structure of the vessel-- it looks rather a musical instrument @TypeCoin971793 would play

 

I think that last post solves the mystery. Excellent detective work @TIF

 

I didn't compose museum inquiries today. My ISP went down very early this morning (widespread-- all 4 islands) and it just came back up. Sigh.

I'd really like to know if any museums have a vessel that looks like this one.

 

Great looking coin, never seen this reverse.
Interesting topic TIF.
Maybe a gardentool

 

I think @AncientJoe nailed it with Bagpipes!

John

 

Very fascinating thread, @TIF , and gorgeous coin. I can only chime in to answer one of your questions, but I can do so definitively.

It is an actual word in ancient Greek, οἰνοχόη, and it refers specifically to a vessel for taking wine from the mixing-bowl (κρατήρ; crater) and pouring it into cups.[1] It's an old word, being used in Hesiod's Works and Days (Hes.Op. 744), Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War (Th.6.46), and Euripides' The Trojan Women (E.Tr.820)

1. Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.