Monumental Predynastic Vase of the Blacktop-Ware in the Early Ovoid Form

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Late Naqada I to Early Naqada II Culture, circa 3600-3400 B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 32.4 cm high

Price: 10 000 Euro

Ref: 1597

Provenance: Belgian private collection of Anne and Christophe Vaes, acquired in 1981 from Farouk El Shaer in Cairo. Recorded in an insurance document dated March 1985. Until recently in family ownership.

Condition: A very minor stable crack at the rim, otherwise intact and in wonderful condition.

Description: An exceptionally large and, in this form, very rare handmade vase made of red Nile clay of the so-called Blacktop ware. The elongated, thin-walled body tapers down to a flattened base. At the top, the rim is slightly thickened and upright. The clay was coated with a red iron oxide slip, which developed its characteristic dark red color after firing. The black rim was created during the firing process, when the upper part of the vessel was exposed to dense smoke. Compare this early type of predynastic Blacktop vessel with the example in the Louvre, inventory number E 11418. Mounted on a custom-made metal stand.