Modern (Egyptian)]]> Scarab]]> EGYPT]]> Purchase]]> Modern (Egyptian)]]> Figurine]]> EGYPT]]> Purchase]]> Modern (Egyptian)]]> Shabti]]> EGYPT]]> Purchase]]> Modern (Egyptian)]]> Shabti]]> EGYPT]]> Purchase]]> Second Intermediate period (Egyptian)]]> New Kingdom (Egyptian)]]> Third Intermediate period (Egyptian)]]> Late Period (Egyptian)]]> Faience]]> Shabti]]> EGYPT]]> Purchase]]> Old Kingdom (Egyptian)]]> First Intermediate period (Egyptian)]]> Middle Kingdom (Egyptian)]]> Bronze]]> Arrow-Head]]> EGYPT]]> Purchase]]> Imperial (Roman)]]> Coin]]> EGYPT]]> Purchase]]> Imperial (Roman)]]> Coin]]> EGYPT]]> Purchase]]> Imperial (Roman)]]> Terracotta]]> Lamp]]> EGYPT]]> Purchase]]>
This kind of vessel was long considered to be a kind of hand grenade used with 'Greek fire', but the identification is now questioned. Many types are known from across the Islamic world, from the 9th to 15th centuries. An undecorated example in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is a very close parallel to the shape, but with a colouration tending towards brown (C.884-1919). It is also from Fustat, acquired in 1919, and dates to the 10th - 11th centuries. A salt-glazed example in the British Museum (OA+.14412), dated to the 12th - 13th centuries, parallels the relief collar on the neck of the vessel.

The vessel is from Ali Bey Bahgat's early operations at Fustat (Old Cairo). It was acquired from the Museum of Arab Art in Cairo, where Bahgat was curator, by Comte Corporal Gontran Louis Henri Marie Philippe de Tournouër in 1915 or 1916. De Tournouer acquired six other early Islamic antiquities from Bahgat and all are said to come from a house excavated at Fustat at a depth of 50 feet. These excavations, started in 1912, were little more than recovery operations until Baghat secured funding to excavate more formally in 1918. The precise archaeological context for the discovery of the vessel is therefore unknown and the sale of duplicate artefacts from the Museum collections was a common practice at the time. De Tournouer donated his collection to the Queensland Museum in 1917 after being invalided home from the First World War. ]]> Fatimid (Islamic)]]> ]]> Terracotta]]> Vessel]]> Old Cairo, Cairo, Egypt]]> Purchase]]> Part of the Museum of Arab Art Collection, Cairo, Egypt, until c. 1915-1916.
Transferred by Ali Bey Baghat, Curator, Museum of Arab Art, Cairo, Egypt, to Comte Cpl. Gontran de Tournouer, c. 1915-1916.
Donated by Comte Cpl. Gontran de Tournouer, Brisbane, to the Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 1922. ]]>