This hemispherical vessel is provided, near the lip, with a horizontal, perfectly cylindrical spout. It is simply decorated with a frieze of zigzag pattern in relief. Despite its reduced size, this vessel is outstanding for its technical precision: all the details of the shape and decoration were carefully executed.
In the Near Eastern world, stone vases were considered luxury goods and belonged to high-ranking individuals or to the treasures of sanctuaries: they were used to store valuable materials (ointments, liquids for female toiletry for instance; but also wheat, oils, etc., given the size of the vessel), as ritual vessels for religious cults, as grave goods.
A conical bowl, with a perfectly flat circular bottom that provides a good balance to the vessel. Flat and angular lip. The mottled stone, covered with small darker inclusions, gives the surface a unique and original decoration. The vessel has an accurate, perfectly regular shape; it would have been shaped using a potter’s wheel, and hollowed out by drilling.
Carved from a block of pink limestone, this large bowl with a rounded profile has a slightly asymmetrical shape and an irregular edge, nevertheless highlighted by a band with a thicker relief.
This object, whose shape recalls a chalice, was carved from a monolith of calcite (alabaster) that is similar in color and appearance to the stone commonly used by Egyptian sculptors for luxury tableware in the late 4th millennium B.C. already.