Vase with a handle in the form of a human-headed bull protome

Vase with a handle in the form of a human-headed bull protome

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

These are sherds of faience vessels with incised decorations. They were excavated at Surkh Dum, a settlement site in Luristan in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. They were found in a structure interpreted as a sanctuary and were thus probably offerings to a god. Other faience vessels with similar designs but different shapes have been found at Susa, suggesting that they were made in Elam.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vase with a handle in the form of a human-headed bull protomeVase with a handle in the form of a human-headed bull protomeVase with a handle in the form of a human-headed bull protomeVase with a handle in the form of a human-headed bull protomeVase with a handle in the form of a human-headed bull protome

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.