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It is interesting to note that the ancient Egyptians
were
crafting stone vessels long before they were
creating statues
in stone. This observation is reinforced by the
fact that the
ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic word for “stone
sculptor”
employs the tool used by these early craftsmen
for the
fashioning of stone vessels as its ideogram.
Such vessels are usually found in tombs, but
their purpose is
to assure the permanence of the ka, or spirit, of
the deceased
eternally in the Hereafter because such
permanence is linked
to stone, one of the most enduring of materials
used by the
ancient Egyptians. It is for this reason that
pyramid chambers
of pharaohs of the period contain so many
examples of stone
vessels. The excavations of the Step Pyramid of
Pharaoh
Djoser at Saqqara yielded almost 40,000 stone
objects, most
of which were vessels.
- (LO.1203)
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