Museum Pieces - Bronze Situla

Bolton Museum

Bronze Situla

Cast bronze situla, votive offering, with lotiform petal base decorated with scenes in three registers around vessel.

ID: 197113A
Object: Situla
Provenance: North Saqqara
Period: Late Period; C4 B.C. (?)
Material: Copper-alloy (bronze)
Reference number: 1971.13:A


Situla - A sacred vessel used for religious ceremonies, the situla is a very small round-bottomed bucket or pail, usually cast from bronze and decorated with mythological motifs. During the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, the situla was carried by the priests of Isis and used in rituals and processions. The situla held holy water from the Nile or milk as a symbol of Isis in her form as a mother goddess.








Sources: 

http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/collections/item/439?keyword=situla&subjectId=4

Egyptian Mythology, A to Z,  By Pat Remler, page 180