Cult Object in the Shape of a Golden Pomegranate, 1300 BCE - 900 BCE
Gold
22 Grams
X.0723
This remarkable spheroid vase is in the form of pomegranate. Its short neck with distinctive, ribbed, everted petals imitates the natural form of the top o this fruit. The neck...
This remarkable spheroid vase is in the form of pomegranate. Its short neck with distinctive, ribbed,
everted petals imitates the natural form of the top o this fruit. The neck of the vessel is decorated with series of repeated motifs in the form of a centra lotus bud, flanked on each side by single lotu blossoms. These are oriented toward the bottom of th vessel as if forming part of a garland placed aroun the neck of the vase.
The pomegranate was first introduced into Egypt durin the later Bronze Age from the Levant as a result o the military campaigns of such warrior pharaohs a Tuthmosis III. Shortly thereafter Egyptian craftsme of Dynasty XVIII were creating vases in the shape o pomegranates in silver, faience, glass, ivory an other deluxe materials. These, however, differ i their design from our golden pomegranate.
In the Levant, and particularly in Israel, th pomegranate (rimmon in Hebrew) was regarded as one o the seven species of the land of Israel. It served a a Biblical symbol of beauty, love and marriage,
fertility and multiplicity and life after death. I should come as no surprise, therefore, that the shap of our pomegranate is more in keeping with that o pomegranates created in Canaan. The date of the piec can be established stylistically, especially throug perusal of the repeated lotus pattern. Although thi motif was quite popular in ancient Egyptian jeweller throughout the New Kingdom, it enjoyed unprecedente popularity in the Third Intermediate Period: it was a this time that relationships between Egypt and Israe reached their peak. These interrelationships wer often hostile, as documented in the scenes an inscriptions of the Bubastite Portal within the Karna temples where Pharaoh Sheshonq I (about 948-927 BC)
recorded his two campaigns into the Levant tha penetrated as far north as Megiddo. Possibly as conciliatory gesture (or in a lacuna of comparativ peace), 1 Kings 9:16 reports that King Solomon marrie a daughter of pharaoh. The reign of Solomon i traditionally considered to be contemporary with par of Egypts Third Intermediate Period. It is doubtles on account of such associations between Egypt an Canaan that this pomegranate is decorated with a Egyptian lotus motif.
Our pomegranate finds its closest parallels in golden pomegranate described as a cult object now i the collections of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusale (inventory: 3435). The two examples are stylisticall similar and may have shared similar functions.
References:
Carol Andrews, Ancient Egyptian Jewelry (London 1990),
pages 118-119 and 138-139, for two jewels from th burial of the Egyptian pharaoh Sheshonq II whic employ this motif as a decorative elements.
Aidan Dodson, Monarchs of the Nile (Cairo 2000),
159-164, for a discussion of this pharaoh and hi campaigns.
I.E.S. Edwards, Tutankhamun: His Tomb and it Treasures (New York 1975), for a silver pomegranat from this tomb. W. Seipel [editor], Land der Bibel. Jerusalem und di Königsstädte des Alten Oriens. Schätze aus dem Bibl Lands Museum Jerusalem. Katalog (Vienna 1997), pag 135, no. 194, for the golden pomegranate which serve as a cult object.
A.Weise and A. Brodeck [editors], Tutankhamun. Th Golden Beyond. Tomb Treasures from the Valley of th Kings (Basel 2004), pages 160-161, catalogue 16B, faience pomegranate from the tomb of Amenophis II.
J. G. Westenholz, Sacred Bounty, Sacred Land. Th Seven Species of the Land of Israel (Jerusalem 1998),
pages 33-37, for the pomegranate in Hebrew religio and tradition.
everted petals imitates the natural form of the top o this fruit. The neck of the vessel is decorated with series of repeated motifs in the form of a centra lotus bud, flanked on each side by single lotu blossoms. These are oriented toward the bottom of th vessel as if forming part of a garland placed aroun the neck of the vase.
The pomegranate was first introduced into Egypt durin the later Bronze Age from the Levant as a result o the military campaigns of such warrior pharaohs a Tuthmosis III. Shortly thereafter Egyptian craftsme of Dynasty XVIII were creating vases in the shape o pomegranates in silver, faience, glass, ivory an other deluxe materials. These, however, differ i their design from our golden pomegranate.
In the Levant, and particularly in Israel, th pomegranate (rimmon in Hebrew) was regarded as one o the seven species of the land of Israel. It served a a Biblical symbol of beauty, love and marriage,
fertility and multiplicity and life after death. I should come as no surprise, therefore, that the shap of our pomegranate is more in keeping with that o pomegranates created in Canaan. The date of the piec can be established stylistically, especially throug perusal of the repeated lotus pattern. Although thi motif was quite popular in ancient Egyptian jeweller throughout the New Kingdom, it enjoyed unprecedente popularity in the Third Intermediate Period: it was a this time that relationships between Egypt and Israe reached their peak. These interrelationships wer often hostile, as documented in the scenes an inscriptions of the Bubastite Portal within the Karna temples where Pharaoh Sheshonq I (about 948-927 BC)
recorded his two campaigns into the Levant tha penetrated as far north as Megiddo. Possibly as conciliatory gesture (or in a lacuna of comparativ peace), 1 Kings 9:16 reports that King Solomon marrie a daughter of pharaoh. The reign of Solomon i traditionally considered to be contemporary with par of Egypts Third Intermediate Period. It is doubtles on account of such associations between Egypt an Canaan that this pomegranate is decorated with a Egyptian lotus motif.
Our pomegranate finds its closest parallels in golden pomegranate described as a cult object now i the collections of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusale (inventory: 3435). The two examples are stylisticall similar and may have shared similar functions.
References:
Carol Andrews, Ancient Egyptian Jewelry (London 1990),
pages 118-119 and 138-139, for two jewels from th burial of the Egyptian pharaoh Sheshonq II whic employ this motif as a decorative elements.
Aidan Dodson, Monarchs of the Nile (Cairo 2000),
159-164, for a discussion of this pharaoh and hi campaigns.
I.E.S. Edwards, Tutankhamun: His Tomb and it Treasures (New York 1975), for a silver pomegranat from this tomb. W. Seipel [editor], Land der Bibel. Jerusalem und di Königsstädte des Alten Oriens. Schätze aus dem Bibl Lands Museum Jerusalem. Katalog (Vienna 1997), pag 135, no. 194, for the golden pomegranate which serve as a cult object.
A.Weise and A. Brodeck [editors], Tutankhamun. Th Golden Beyond. Tomb Treasures from the Valley of th Kings (Basel 2004), pages 160-161, catalogue 16B, faience pomegranate from the tomb of Amenophis II.
J. G. Westenholz, Sacred Bounty, Sacred Land. Th Seven Species of the Land of Israel (Jerusalem 1998),
pages 33-37, for the pomegranate in Hebrew religio and tradition.