ClassificationsAncient Near Eastern Art
Vase
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 viewCollections
- Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art
2305-2152 BCE
3rd Millennium BCE
late 6th Century BCE
1980-1760 BCE
2900-2545 BCE
ca. 540 BCE
mid 6th Century BCE
3500-3350 BCE
ca. 3000 BCE
2950-2730 BCE