This cylinder vase is typical of the ceramics produced at the end of the Protohistoric period in Egypt. In the 4th millennium B.C., improved living conditions resulted in a new civilisation developing on the banks of the Nile. It was called Naqada culture, a name taken from a site in Upper Egypt where a vast cemetery from this era was discovered.

Craftsmanship was of very high quality, especially as we can still see it nowadays in the terracotta vases made with a wide variety of forms and decoration. Most of them were found in tombs and contained food or drinks for the afterlife. This vessel has a cylindrical body with a flat base and a rolled lip. The upper part of the surface is decorated with a wavy line, slightly embossed, that serves as a handle. The criss-crossed motif painted on the reddish-brown clay is probably based on the net bags that were used to carry goods. The shape, which may be of Palestinian origin, went on to be very popular: the same form can still be found in stone vases from the era of the first pharaohs.