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

This faience vessel has incised decoration on the outside, including two rows of vertical lines with a guilloche pattern between them below the rim. The body of the vessel has a stylized human figure facing forward, with a large bird on the right. A protome, possibly a handle, emerges from the rim of the vessel in the form of a kneeling human-headed bull creature. He has a long beard and a bulbous hat with two horns at the front, indicating divinity. His eyes are seemingly closed. This vessel was excavated at Surkh Dum, a settlement site in Luristan in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. It was found in a structure interpreted as a sanctuary and was thus probably an offering to a god. Other faience vessels with similar designs but different shapes have been found at Susa, suggesting that it was made in Elam. The human-headed bull is a well-known feature of ancient Near Eastern art. Often called a ‘lamassu,’ the creature is generally understood to be a protective entity, which is why colossal bull-men are represented in the doorways and gateways of Assyrian and Achaemenid palaces.

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.