Bowl

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This bowl has gently curving sides that give way to a conical shape in its lower section, terminating in a small, flat base. It is made of a fine buff clay with painted brown decorations, namely two thick horizontal bands with an overlapping sequence of Xs in between them. Horizontal marks on the bowl suggest that it was finished using a slow wheel. This bowl was excavated in 1932 at Tall-i Bakun A in southwestern Iran, a prehistoric site near Persepolis. During the fifth millennium B.C. Bakun was a hub for trade between pastoral nomads who raised sheep and goats in the highlands and the farmers who raised barley, wheat and peas in the Marvdasht Plain. As a result it grew into a major administrative center, as attested by the many stamp seals found there. It was also where much of the pottery used by the pastoralists was made, including this bowl. Although it has a flat bottom, the bowl was probably used with a stand, as several have been found at Bakun. This would have made the bowl easier to use on rough terrain, even if it meant more to carry. Given its size the bowl was most likely a drinking cup, though it is unclear what was drunk from it.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art