A Glass Chalice of Tuthmosis III

T H E glass chalice bearing the prenomen of Tuthmosis I I I figured Plate X V I , below, was bought about the year 1825 by an English archaeologist, Edward Dodwell, F.S.A., who was then living in Rome and forming the well-known collection of Egyptian, Greek and Etruscan antiquities which, some years after his death in 1832, passed into the possession of Munich and is now preserved in the Antiquarium of that city. I n a catalogue of the collection printed at Rome in 1837, the chalice is thus described: "Calice di smalto turchino chiaro con ornamenti gialli e turchinoscuri; sul corpo v' e i l cartello del Thutmose I V [sic] della dinastia X V I I I (a. 0.4 e un quart, dia. 0.3)." I t will be noticed that the chalice is here called " smalto " (enamel), and in the last " Guide "* to the Anti­ quarium it is said to be of " faience." I t is, however, of glass, and-glass of a kind that was much prized in Upper Egypt from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-first Dynasty. About fifty perfect, or nearly perfect, examples of this type of glass are known, and I have seen and noted fragments of at least two hundred and fifty broken ones. A certain number of specimens are dated by the names of the kings for whom they were made being worked into, or cut on, the glass. Besides the Dodwell chalice mentioned above there is a bottle in the British Museum of opaque turquoise blue glass with ornamentation in yellow, which bears the prenomen of Tuthmosis I I I . A dozen pieces bear the names of Amenophis I I * , Amenophis I I I 7 and Akhenaton. The date of other specimens or fragments can be determined from their provenance. In the tomb of Maherpre, which dates from the reign of Tuthmosis I I I , was found a bottle" of dark blue glass with ornamentation in green,