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WM-EG034

Jubilee Vessel of Pepi I
Copyright Rick Menges, with my thanks

Date (Period): ca. 2290 BC (Old Kingdom)
Medium: alabaster (calcite) and pigment
Measurements: bottom: 5 11/16 x 4 3/16 in. (14.5 x 10.7 cm) (h. x diam.);
top: 5 11/16 in. (14.4 cm) (diam.)
Item Description:
The beautiful hieroglyphs on this vessel identify its owner and the ritual in which it was used. On the left is King Pepi I's Horus name (one of a king's five names), "Beloved of the Two Lands [Egypt]." At center is his throne name, Mery-re; below are brief, symmetrical texts reading, "given life and dominion forever." On the right is a text, "First day of the Sed-festival." If an Egyptian king reigned for thirty years, he performed a ritual of renewal, the Sed-festival, in which this vessel would have been used.