Image Details
Collections of the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums/Photo: Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Teeth bared, a lion peers over the rim of this extraordinary bowl from the site of Kinneret, on the Sea of Galilee, while a hand cradles the bowl from below. Used perhaps to hold ointments, this bowl may be approximately contemporaneous; with Amos, for it was molded in about 744–627 B.C. The bowl is made of a luxurious artificial material known as “Egyptian blue,” produced by mixing silicon, malachite (or some other copper compound), calcium carbonate and natron.