Egyptian alabaster lentoid flask New Kingdom. Mid to late 18th

Egyptian alabaster lentoid flask
New Kingdom. Mid to late 18th Dynasty, c.1400-1300 BC
Two small handles beneath a rounded lip flank the short neck surmounting the rounded lentoid body.
Sometimes confusingly referred to as 'pilgrim flasks', the type first appeared in the mid 18th Dynasty and the shape continued right up to Coptic and Medieval times. Their
mass manufacture for use by pilgrims to Egypt's shrines during the later periods gave them their name which was later applied to all such two handled vessels regardless of
date.
Height: 12.7 cm
Provenance:
Private collection Switzerland
Literature:
For an example in terracotta dated to the Amarna period see E. Brovarski, S. K. Doll and R. A. Freed (eds.), 'Egypt's Golden Age: The Art of Living in the New Kingdom, 15581085 BC' (Boston, 1982) p. 83, no. 63. For examples in stone see Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie, 'The Funeral Furniture of Egypt. Stone and Metal Vases', (reprinted Warminster,
1977), plate XXXVI, nos. 915-918.