Bowl with Human Feet, c.3750–3550 BC, possibly late Naqada I or early Naqada II, Predynastic period.

In the Predynastic period, potters created a wide variety of ceramic vessels with bowls; one unusual type has supports shaped like human feet. This example, made from Nile clay, is a simple round bowl tipped slightly forward as if to offer its contents.

 

The two moulded and shaped pieces representing human feet are solidly attached to the bowl's underside. The vessel's surface was smoothed, slipped, and polished, giving it a light sheen.

 

The bowl standing on feet is very similar to the Egyptian hieroglyph meaning "to bring." Since none of the known bowls comes from a well-understood context, archaeologists cannot interpret their original use. Perhaps vessels like this were placed above the tomb to present offerings from the living to the deceased, a practice that was an established part of funerary ritual in pharaonic Egypt. They may also have been placed in shrines holding offerings to a deity.