Although the lotus motif most likely derived from the Near East, bronze bowls with handles terminating in lotuses may have originated on Cyprus. Many of them have been found in Cypriot tombs dating to the Geometric period, although bowls with lotus-flower handles also have been unearthed in the Levant, the Aegean, Italy, and, most recently, on Crete. Large bronze bowls, such as this one, are rare. Smaller ones, which were made in Phoenicia and exported to Cyprus, are more common and exist also in terracotta.

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