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Clay jar: E.P.15

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An image of Jar
An image of Jar
An image of Jar
Current Location: Gallery 24

Titles

Clay jar

Entities

Categories

Description

Clay jar, globular, with line decoration in black paint in the form of a snake.

Globular jar made from Nile silt clay and covered with a red wash. The main decoration is painted with black pigment and shows a stripey snake holding a branch in its mouth. There are further lines of decoration around the neck and middle of the pot. The vessel was said to have been found in a tomb in Thebes (close to modern Luxor), which would accord with the motif of a snake, which was common in a funerary context. This shape of vessel and clay are more commonly found further south in Aswan and it is possible that the pot was made there and then brought with the owner, or bought by him/her, who then placed it in their burial. Such vessels vary in size, this example is relatively small. There is a small chip to the rim but the rest of the pot remains intact. This object originally belonged to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and so was likely excavated. Its exact findspot was not recorded.

Measurements and weight

Height: 0.2 m

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Transferred by Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge

Dating

Roman
Circa 1 CE - Circa 200 CE

Materials used in production

Clay

Techniques used in production

Painted
Wheelmade

Identification numbers

Accession number: E.P.15
Primary reference Number: 63559
Oldadmincategory: P

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 18 July 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Antiquities

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Clay jar" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/63559 Accessed: 2025-12-05 12:54:45

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/63559 |title=Clay jar |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 12:54:45|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-63559

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<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant16/E_P_15_281_29.jpg"
        alt="Clay jar"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Clay jar</figcaption>
    </figure>
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