Bowl

Less than half of this bowl is preserved. It has a flat base and an outturned rim. It is made of a buff clay with a cream slip, and decorated with a line of brown paint at the rim. It was excavated at Tall-i Nokhodi, a prehistoric site in southwestern Iran occupied during the fourth and third millennia B.C. Excavations have been limited in scope, but the presence of ovens there suggest it was a small settlement. Metal finds from the site, including a cast bronze axe head, indicate a precious metalworking industry there, one which prefigures the magnificent and extensive bronzeworking of the neighboring Elamites in centuries to come.

This bowl was excavated in 1962 by the British Institute of Persian Studies. However, the Met acquired it in 1978 as a result of its financial contributions to the Institute’s excavations at Tepe Nush-i Jan, another site in Iran. At the time the Iranian government allowed foreign excavators to keep a portion of the finds, and these excavators in turn would divide their share among the institutions that supported the work.