Egyptian Blue Faience Offering Cup for Ramesses II New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, circa 1304-1237 B.C. A blue faience offering cup with gently flaring sidewalls, delicate rounded rim and subtle foot; the inscription contained within a painted rectangular panel, with the left side containing hieroglyphs interpreted as those of Ramesses II enclosed in a cartouche, the right a dedication to 'Sokar lord of Rosetau', linking the king with the falcon god Sokar. Cf. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, inv.no.F1995/5.4, for an offering cup from Kafr el-Gebel, Giza. 27.8 grams, 45 mm high (1 3/4 in.). London Mayfair, UK, collection, formed 1970s-1980s. Ex property of a London gentleman. Private collection of Professor Kenneth Graham, London, UK. Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan. It is possible that the scribe writing the inscription made a misjudgement and ran out of space to include a low horizontal sign meaning “beloved (of)”, which can be found on other cups of this king. Sokar was a powerful chthonic deity closely associated with the king and with notions surrounding the deceased’s re-birth. In this role the god was considered to be lord of Rosetau, a sacred place in the Giza area believed to be the entrance to the underworld. Numerous memorial chapels of the Ramesside Period have been discovered in this area (Kafr el-Gebel) and it seems likely that many faience cups, like this example, could have come from there.