A Bes Mug in Tampa

The Tampa Museum of Art in Tampa, Florida, acquired a ceramic drinking vessel in the shape of the head of Bes from the David Hendrick collection in 1984 (Figure 1).1 The mold-shaped head has a stark grimacing face. His forehead is grooved with outward fanning diagonal lines (eye lashes?), sharply sloping brows (almost in a V-shape meeting at the root of the nose), with horizontally curved frowns in between. Bes has wide eyes with round inner corners and sharply pointed outer corners, thick eyelids, pierced pupils and incised irises. His broad, pudgy nose has wide flaring nostrils. The round, chubby cheeks are accentuated by the downturned curves of the whiskers. The beard is delineated by mane-like locks that end in a snail-like curve. Most dramatic is Bes’ wide-open mouth, with fleshy Cupid-bowed upper lip, a row of menacing front teeth, and a stuck-out tongue. Instead of his usual feather crown, the Bes head is here topped with a double-rimmed neck with a single handle. Bes has apparently tight curly hair (indicated with dots marked by impressing a reed in the wet clay). At the ear-level on either side of his face are two snail-shaped locks.