Vessel with the semi-spherical body with a broad, flat rim, provided with two small vertical lug handles. It is an imitation of a much more expensive stone vessel from this period. Egyptian faience, whose name in the Egyptian language sounded tjehnet, which meant glossy, was known since the Old Kingdom. It served as a material for making vessels, figurines, amulets, jewellery. It was used as a substitute for lapis-lazuli and turquoise (decorative blue-coloured stones). The blue-green colour of faience symbolised heaven, and its gloss stood for the light of the sun, moon and stars. It seems that workshops producing faience already existed during the First Dynasty (c. 3100 BC). However, the oldest workshop dating to the turn of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period was discovered in Abydos. As the excavations indicate, faience wares were used both in funerary rites and in the household, where they were considered luxury items.