New Year’s Flask

Bottles such as these were produced in ancient Egypt to celebrate the beginning of the year and are inscribed on the sides with the phrase "Happy New Year." Two baboons, sacred to the god Thoth, to whom the first month of the year was dedicated, flank the necks of the bottles. The bottles were incised with inscriptions to the gods, geometric designs, and flowers. The bottles might have contained perfumes or oils, which would have been used in the ceremonies that celebrated the New Year.

"New Year's Flask"
Faience, 8-1/4 inches
Lent by the Semitic Museum, Harvard University, L1999.25.7