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Offering tray

The baked clay trays here displayed were probably used as actual offering tables. They have internal divisions and a raised edge which recalls the girdle wall of the typical courtyard of the Egyptian house; they are indeed also known as “soul houses”. Separately manufactured models of funerary offerings – loaves, fishes, cow heads and legs, vegetables – were placed in the middle of the tray; the channels presumably served the purpose of draining out liquid offerings poured directly on the tray.

S. 16034
Baked clay
22 x 26 x 4.6 cm
2118–1980 BCE
First Intermediate Period
Gebelein
E. Schiaparelli
Sala 04 Vetrina 02
Museo Egizio