Large Chalice with Geometrical Decoration

Product Description

This handmade, large calyx is composed of a hemispherical bowl supported by a hollow, trumpet-shaped high foot. The geometric decoration is painted only on the upper part of the vessel and includes a series of hatched lines representing steps that recall a simplified meander; groups of vertical double lines link the decorated frieze to the upper foot.

This vessel, the size of which makes it one of the largest examples currently known, attracts the eye of the modern viewer with its formal and decorative simplicity. It belongs to a group of well-attested ceramics in the so-called Chalcolithic period (the period that precedes the widespread use of metals, particularly copper and, later, bronze), on the sites of modern-day northern Iran.

Along with the large chalice (a vessel often used as a funerary offering), the most common form in the repertory was the bowl, which may differ in type (simple, with an arched handle like a basket or a pouring spout, etc.) and size. The decorations, which in some cases are reminiscent of wicker woven motifs, first only showed geometric patterns, but later also included animal friezes (friezes of waterbirds, of ibexes, of fishes perhaps, etc.).

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