The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Bronze stitula, a waterdrop-shaped vessel opening to a cylinder and with a circular handle hooked through loops on either side of the rim. A scene outlined in fine, white lines decorates the body with gods standing single-file in front of a table filled with objects, a person holding out a cup across it. They face our right, the god Osiris central from this angle, holding a crook and staff, and the falcon-headed god Horus behind.

Decorated Situla

305–30 BCE

Egypt, Greco-Roman period

(332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE)
bronze
Diameter: 15.5 cm (6 1/8 in.); Diameter of mouth: 10.2 cm (4 in.); Overall: 28.3 cm (11 1/8 in.); with handle: 45.2 cm (17 13/16 in.)
The Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund 1932.32
Location: 107 Egyptian

Description

The situla was a deluxe ritual vessel that played an important role in Egyptian religious ceremonies. The two scenes on this situla exemplify the dual roles of a pious Egyptian in the afterlife: receiving offerings from his family on the one hand and making offerings to the gods on the other. On one side of the vessel the deceased, Padiamennebnesuttawy ("He who Amen, lord of Karnak, gives"), sits in a low chair accompanied by his pet dog. The vertical, cross-shaped sign preceding the animal is his name, Nefer, meaning "good one" or "beautiful one." On the right, the deceased's eldest son, Amenhotep, makes offerings of incense and water to his father. On the other side the deceased demonstrates his piety by making an offering of round loaves of bread, vegetables, and meat to the gods. Opposite him are the gods who are the recipients of his offerings—Osiris, god of the dead; Horus, son of Isis; and Isis herself—each of whom wears elaborate beaded and feathered garments.
  • Mond, Sir Robert and Oliver H. Meyers. The Bucheum. London, England: The Egypt Exploration Society and Humphrey Milford, 1934. Vol. I: p. 98; Vol. II: p. 22, no. 45; Vol. III: pl. LXXXIV, fig 4, pl. LXXXV, pl. CLXI, figs. 1–2
    Fischer, Henry G. “More Ancient Egyptian Names of Dogs and Other Animals.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal 12 (1977): 173–178, fig. 1. www.metmuseum.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 12 archive.org
    Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced: p. 492; Mentioned: p. 492-3
    Director’s correspondence file for W.M. Flinders Petrie, 1914-1937, Box 18, Folder 15, Frederic Allen Whiting Records, CMA Archives.
  • London, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, 8 September-3 October 1931
  • {{cite web|title=Decorated Situla|url=false|author=|year=305–30 BCE|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1932.32