This bowl has a globular body, a ring base, a carinated shoulder and a flaring rim. It is made of a pinkish buff clay using a potter’s wheel. It was excavated at Pasargadae in southwestern Iran, about 90 km northeast of Shiraz. Pasargadae was the first capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great c. 546 B.C. The bowl was found at the Tall-i Takht, a massive artificial platform presumably built as the site of a royal palace but converted into a fortified compound after Darius established a new capital at Persepolis around 520. However, the coin hoards and other finds from the Takht, including this bowl, show that it continued to be occupied down into the second century B.C., long after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire. The bowl was found in a room in the southern corner of the Takht.

The distinctive shape of this bowl is closely associated with the Achaemenid Empire, as it is depicted in the reliefs of the Apadana – the main audience hall at Persepolis. Yet, as this bowl attests, it persisted into the periods of Seleucid and Parthian rule in Iran. It was probably used as a drinking vessel for wine, and the survival of this vessel shape after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire is likely due to it having become an integral part of Persian table settings.