1910's Egyptian or Phoenician Style Pure Alabaster Vase Jar

Description

EGYPTIAN OR PHOENICIAN ALABASTER VASE JAR.
The ovoid body gently tapering to a flat base, with broad shoulders and a … more EGYPTIAN OR PHOENICIAN ALABASTER VASE JAR.
The ovoid body gently tapering to a flat base, with broad shoulders and a disk rim, the short neck concave, the interior well hollowed.
The ancient pharaohs used the alabaster for creating different items, including household items, ritual objects. The alabaster is a fine-grained, massive, translucent variety of gypsum, a hydrous calcium sulfate. It is pure white or streaked with reddish-brown.
There are two different types of alabaster: the gypsum kind (Egyptian Alabaster-this vase) which is used mainly for pure handmade products and the ‘Oriental Alabaster' which is a much harder stone similar to marble which is used for the machine-made products.
The handmade alabaster objects are almost always very thin, lighter in weight, waxy feeling with a matte finish (not shiny). Hand artisans can only achieve this thinness of the product, not machines. Its colors range from pure white to a rich creamy white and are sometimes streaked with various hues of warm, rusty red.
The Egyptian Alabaster is a dense, calcium carbonate stone that has been mined near Hatnub, Egypt since the pre-dynastic period. The Egyptian Alabaster is not as the name indicates, true alabaster like the gypsum.
The vein of alabaster has its own unique color and characteristic, the veins are translucent and dark and are completely random.
For cleaning, it is best to simply use water and cloth, while avoiding the use of colored cleaning liquids.
Dimensions: 5.75 inches high; 5.25 inches diameter (at largest points). Vase has a semi-conical shape.
Condition: very good for age. Very minor fading and one small flaw at the lip of the vase 9see photos attached).
Provenance: family inheritance, acquired in Thebes (Egypt) in the 1930s.
Interested buyers are highly encouraged to ask all necessary questions before purchase. Thank you. less