Olga A. Vasilyeva

Svetlana E. Malykh

Eleven small relief vessels from the collection of Moscow Pushkin State Museum present different characteristic samples of the Greco-Egyptian terracottae. According to the clay fabrics, they probably originated from the workshops of Memphis (Memphis Black Ware type), Fayum, Naukratis and Alexandria. One alabastron is supposed to come from Middle Egypt and two others are of unknown origin. Unfortunately, the provenance of all pieces is not known. Nine of them came from the former collection of V. Golenischev, and two others were acquired from private collections of A. Zhivago and I. Arutyunyan.

As it seems, the vessels with Dionysian symbolic were used as votive offerings in temple rituals, while the rest were used for aroma, cosmetic and medical substances storage.

Decoration of the relief vessels demonstrates themes which were traditional in Greco-Egyptian coroplastic art of that time. The main subjects and symbols were connected with syncretic Hellenistic and Egyptian pantheon: Bes, Dionysos, Eros/Harpokrates and the “Alexandrian’ triad of gods”. Several items have very interesting and particular iconography without any exact parallels, namely: askos in the form of the god Bes riding a goose; a vase in the form of the standing god Bes wearing a long kilt and holding palm branches; lekythos in the form of embracing lovers, and lekythos in the form of woman’s head.