Hes-Vase with Cover, late Dynasty 18, New Kingdom, ca. 1350–1295 B.C.E.. Faience, 8 1/16 x Diam. 2 3/16 in. (20.5 x 5.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.55a-b. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Ritual vessels known as hes-vases were commonly used in temple rituals of purification and in libations, or liquid offerings, which the priest poured to the gods. Their shape resembles the hieroglyph hes, which can mean “to favor” or “to praise.”