Phoenician-style ewer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vessels of similar form and construction have been excavated in Cyprus, Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula, with related ceramic examples from Cyprus and the Levant. The piriform shape of this vessel is divided into two sections by a narrow raised band. The convex lower body rests on a hollow ring foot above which the elegant neck gradually tapers into a trefoil lip. A three-ridged handle spouts from a palmette with tendrils and attaches the lower body to the lip. At the top of the handle the three ridges transform into three snake heads, the central one of which extends directly into the vessel. The closest parallel to this ewer is an example from Niebla in Spain, at the Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, which has looped snake heads at the top of the handle.

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