Pilgrim's Bottle (New Year's Bottle)

Pilgrim's Bottle (New Year's Bottle), Faience, Faience, Total: Height: 17 cm; Width: 12.5 cm; Depth: 8 cm, Ritual objects and accessories, votive offerings, burial gifts, monkeys, lotus ornament, lotus flower, column, pillar (architecture), antiquity, This form of bottle with a lenticular body and a cylindrical neck is called a pilgrim's bottle. They can be traced in Egypt from the beginning of the New Kingdom from 1530 BC until the Coptic period of the 6th century AD. The equally common designation as New Year's Bottle goes back to the early custom of filling the vessel with perfume, oil, water from the Nile or valuable essences and presenting it as a gift at the turn of the year. The body of this bottle is decorated around the shoulders with a wide band of serrated and floral patterns, probably referring to a collar worn by the participants in the New Year celebrations. The neck is made in the shape of a papyrus umbel and is decorated on each side by a crouching monkey. (Photo by: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)