“New Year’s” Bottle

This delicately shaped lentoid faience flask was made to mark the turning of the Egyptian year. Inscribed for the “God’s Father, Amenhotep, son of Iufaa”, it likely once held perfumed oil, sacred water, or Nile water; offerings bound to renewal and good fortune.

A floral collar encircles the shoulders, echoing the usekh collars of the elite and ceremonial garlands worn at festival time, while two watchful baboons flank the tall neck, which is formed as a stylised bundle of papyrus and lotus, both plants of rebirth and creation.

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The inscriptions call upon the Theban triad (Amun, Mut, and Khonsu) alongside Montu and Amun-Re, to grant Amenhotep protection and a joyful New Year.

Originally glazed a luminous turquoise, with darker blue inlay to mimic lapis lazuli, the bottle would have shimmered brightly in the light; an object both devotional and celebratory, where beauty and blessing met.

New Year

In Ancient Egypt, the New Year was not marked by a date on a calendar, but by the heavens and the Nile. It began with the heliacal rising of Sirius (Sopdet), whose first appearance at dawn signalled the coming inundation; the life-giving flood that renewed the land, the people, and the gods themselves. This moment, known as Wepet Renpet (“the Opening of the Year”), was a time of offerings, festivals, and hopeful prayers for protection, abundance, and rebirth.

If you’d like to explore how the Egyptians welcomed the New Year (its astronomy, rituals, and sacred symbolism) we have covered it in more depth in a YouTube video.

Summary:

Faience Lentiod Bottle (New Year’s Bottle)

Late Period, c. 664–525 B.C.

From the Theodore M. Davis Collection. Met Museum.