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White Cross-Lined Bowl with Turtle and Sun
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Red polished vessels with white painted decoration (known as white cross-lined ware or C-ware) represent Egypt’s oldest known tradition in painted pottery. The decoration on this bowl, painted after firing, features the sun on the side and a turtle on the bottom of the vessel. The turtle was considered the enemy of the Egyptian sun god Ra because it preferred the murky river bottom to the sunlight.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineWhite Cross-Lined Bowl with Turtle and Sun, c. 4000–3400 BCE. Egypt, Predynastic (5000–2950 BCE), Naqada I–II (3900–3300 BCE). Nile silt pottery; diameter: 18.1 cm (7 1/8 in.); diameter of mouth: 13.7 cm (5 3/8 in.); overall: 6.7 cm (2 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust, 1920.2008
