Rare Mother’s Milk Vessel dating to the New Kingdom

Culture: Egyptian

Period: 18th dynasty, Reigns of Thutmosis III. to Amenhotep III., 1479-1352 B.C.

Material: Terrakotta

Dimensions: 15 cm x 7,5 cm

Price: Sold

Ref: 1159

Provenance: Sangiorgi collection, Palazzo Borghese Rome until 1948. From this collection acquired by Russel Roberts in the same year and since then in family estate. Exhibited in the Kunsthistorisches Museum from 1 September 2004 to 1 January 2006.

Condition: Hands, feet and head of child, as well as the handle on the back missing.

Description: Very rare terracotta mother milk vessel from the 18th dynasty, of which only around 15 examples and fragments are preserved worldwide. The nurse or mother depicted kneeling with her child in her laps. The long hair pulled together to a braid in the back, in the front at the ends two curled strands cascading to the elbows sideways of her breasts. The arms, also worked out in high-quality, embracing with the large hands and long fingers the child on his belly and backside. The quality of the masterpiece is for example apparent on the upper arms, which are partly protruding from the slender, slightly bent body. The child grabbing with his long arms the mother's right breast, the left arm resting on the left thigh. The estuary with a thickened rim on the head of the mother figure. The precise function of these vessels remains uncertain. However, it is the consensus that the vessel represents a nurse or mother. Each vessel would hold a liquid capacity equal to the milk from a woman's breast during a normal feeding. The vessel was on loan from 1 September 2004 to 1 January 2006 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, insured with 79 000 Euro. Loan contract and handover protocol available. Mounted.