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Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art · vessel

Fragmentary Ointment Jar Inscribed for Unas

Source of record: Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Object Label: Egyptian cleansing materials made the skin very dry, especially in the desert climate. Most Egyptians who could afford it followed daily washing with ointments rubbed into the skin. These ointments were often scented. Caption: Fragmentary Ointment Jar Inscribed for Unas, ca. 2371–2350 B.C.E.. Egyptian alabaster (calcite), 3 5/16 in. (8.4 cm) high x 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm) diameter. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.76E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

A fragmentary, alabaster (calcite) ointment jar with a flared rim and vertically placed decorative/inscribed register on the body.

The object is a small, handle-less jar fragment shaped with a flaring, slightly rounded rim and a concave neck leading to a wider base. The surface appears light cream to pale yellow, consistent with an Egyptian alabaster (calcite) vessel. On the front face, a vertical area preserves incised/painted-looking hieroglyphic elements within rectangular frames; at the center there is a standing human/figure-like sign flanked by other grouped signs to either side. A clear cartouche is not fully preserved, and individual signs are not confidently legible from the available image resolution. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible. No figurative deities are clearly identifiable beyond the possibility that a royal or offering text is present in the hieroglyphic inscription.

decorative Old Kingdom (inscribed vessel context; exact reign unclear from image) fragmentary
Deities unknown
Royals Unas (not clearly legible in image; inscription too incomplete to confirm)
Materials Egyptian alabaster (calcite)
Signs Unidentified framed hieroglyphic group with a central figure/standing figure-like sign Unidentified vertical column of hieroglyphs within rectangular border
Visible text "Vertical hieroglyphic inscription in rectangular framing; specific name (e.g., Unas) not legible with confidence in the provided image."

Connections

Found at Saqqara
Royals Unas
Materials Alabaster

Cross-references (2)

  • BKM-Accession 37.76E tier-2
  • BKM-Object 3958 tier-2
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.