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Cylinder sheath
Nubian
Napatan Period, reign of Aspelta
593–568 B.C.
Object Place: Sudan
Medium/Technique
Gilded silver
Dimensions
Height x diameter: 8.4 × 2.8 cm (3 5/16 × 1 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
Accession Number21.11737
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsUnclassifiable objects – Function unknown
DescriptionSilver gilt cylinder sheath (formerly probably mounted on silver, now mounted on modern silver cylinders) in two parts: top part with repoussé and engraved decorations, lower part with engraved decorations including cartouches of Aspelta; fragmentary and incomplete. Bottom with rosette decoration preserved. See also 21.11744.
[Alternate Text for 20.275, 21.340, 11735, 11737, 11746:]
Gold, electrum, and gilded silver objects called cylinder sheaths were found in a number of the tombs of the kings and queens of Kush at Nuri in the Sudan, but have not been recorded elsewhere. Each consists of two cylinders, the longer one closed at the base and the shorter having an internal sleeve that fits inside the longer piece. The cylinders are decorated with friezes of uraei and ram's heads, divine figures, and royal names. Their purpose is unknown; it has been suggested that they held rolled documents, but the open end makes this unlikely.
[Alternate Text for 20.275, 21.340, 11735, 11737, 11746:]
Gold, electrum, and gilded silver objects called cylinder sheaths were found in a number of the tombs of the kings and queens of Kush at Nuri in the Sudan, but have not been recorded elsewhere. Each consists of two cylinders, the longer one closed at the base and the shorter having an internal sleeve that fits inside the longer piece. The cylinders are decorated with friezes of uraei and ram's heads, divine figures, and royal names. Their purpose is unknown; it has been suggested that they held rolled documents, but the open end makes this unlikely.
ProvenanceFrom Nuri, Pyramid 8 (Tomb of Aspelta),Chamber A. 1916: excavated by the Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA by the government of Sudan; 1921: received by the MFA.