Miniature offering table

Unknown

400–200 BC · Bronze or copper alloy · Egyptian Art

Miniature offering tables are a type of dedication to temples in the later periods. On this table loaves and a vessel are depicted in relief on the table itself. A jackal (or a falcon?) sits at the forward corner and a second is missing, and two figures at the rear corners, although difficult to recognize, may represent baboons as known on other examples. A figure of a kneeling offerer would have sat at the rear of the table opposite the spout. The tables seem to have been closely associated with situlae (libation vessels), both from some evidence of finds and from their decoration. It has been suggested that liquid would have been poured from the situla onto the small table as part of a ritual offering.

Artist

Unknown

Date

400–200 BC

Medium

Bronze or copper alloy

Department

Egyptian Art

Credit line

Funds from various donors, 1886