Miniature vessel
This vessel has a globular body with a sharp carination, a flat base and everted rim. It is made of buff clay, and has dark brown painted decorations in two registers. The lower register alternates geometric decorations, namely crosshatching and vertical rows of circles, with images of birds. The birds have short, bent legs, big heads and long beaks. The upper register has panels whose lower corners are filled with studded triangles, perhaps meant to indicate wooded slopes. The panels each two suns.
Vessels with very similar decoration have been found at Tepe Giyan and Godin Tepe in western Iran. At both sites they come from graves, and it is difficult to say whether these vessels served a ritual purpose or were objects of everyday life (or both). This vessel was formerly in the possession of the archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld, who purchased it in Hamadan. He wrote that he was inspired by this vessel to explore Tepe Giyan, in the belief that it originated there. But this origin cannot be confirmed.
Vessels with very similar decoration have been found at Tepe Giyan and Godin Tepe in western Iran. At both sites they come from graves, and it is difficult to say whether these vessels served a ritual purpose or were objects of everyday life (or both). This vessel was formerly in the possession of the archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld, who purchased it in Hamadan. He wrote that he was inspired by this vessel to explore Tepe Giyan, in the belief that it originated there. But this origin cannot be confirmed.
Artwork Details
- Title: Miniature vessel
- Date: ca. 1600–1400 BCE
- Geography: Iran, possibly from Tepe Giyan
- Medium: Ceramic
- Dimensions: 2.99 in. (7.59 cm)
- Credit Line: Bequest of Charles K. Wilkinson, 1986
- Object Number: 1987.115
- Curatorial Department: Ancient West Asian Art
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