ClassificationsAncient Near Eastern Art

Vase

AAT Object Form/Functionvessels (containers)

Possible OriginIraq, Asia

Possible OriginKuwait, Asia

CultureSumerian

PeriodEarly Dynastic Period

Date2900-2350 BCE

MediumMarble

Credit LineGift in memory of Helene J. Kantor

Dimensions5 1/8 x 7 11/16 in. (13 x 19.6 cm)

Object number2008.051.001

Label TextHigh quality, workable stone was a rare commodity in Mesopotamia, therefore the majority of the stones used to manufacture vessels, cylinder seals, and weights had to be imported. Stone vessels were valued and highly prized and often used as dedications to temples or deposited as grave offerings. This vessel with its triangular lugs, carved of the mineral calcite, known as "Egyptian alabaster", is of a form imitated in pottery in late Predynastic Egypt. The carved cross-hatching around the rim, however, is a purely Near Eastern motif.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2001 - February 12, 2018
Published ReferencesChristie's London, Fine Antiquities (November 25, 1997), 45, lot 179.

ProvenanceWith Christie's London, Sale 7814, November 25, 1997, lot 179. Ex private collection, United States.

Status

Not on view

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