Large Ceramic Bowl
Large Ceramic Bowl
This turned bowl is made of beige ceramic covered with a red slip; decorated patterns are painted on the inner wall of the vessel only, with thick lines and in blackish brown color.
3rd millenium B.C., 4th millenium B.C.
D: 22 cm
In stock
Product Description
This Western Asian Large Ceramic Bowl with painted animals is made of beige ceramic covered with a red slip; decorated patterns are painted on the inner wall of the vessel only, with thick lines and in blackish brown color. The shape is simple, trunconical and without handles; the flat circular base provides the bowl a good balance.
The decoration represents an animal scene: a group of three ibexes, recognizable by their long and twisted horns, is chased by a big feline with a mottled coat. The wild cat captured the last ibex and bites its hindquarters. The landscape is represented by three simple shrubs that separate the animals and organize the composition.
Animal scenes are a favorite subject of Near Eastern iconography; they are the visual translation of the huge importance of the animal world in the framework of these societies.
Ceramics appeared on the sites of the Iranian plateau from the Chalcolithic period, that is before the Bronze Age, between the late 8th and the 4th millennium B.C. This period is characterized by a splitting in many regional cultures, each with specific types of ceramics, named after the site of their excavation (Rey, Siyalk, Susa, Giyan).
