Spouted jar

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hasanlu in northwestern Iran is best known as the site of a citadel that was destroyed in about 800 B.C., most likely by an army from Urartu coming from eastern Turkey. Thousands of artifacts of terracotta, bronze, iron, gold, silver, and ivory were recovered from the monumental buildings, which were characterized by an elaborate entrance and a large central hall with columns that supported a two-story superstructure. This gray-ware jar (MMA 60.20.15) and stand (MMA 60.20.16), found in a burial in the cemetery of Hasanlu, is typical of Iron Age pottery of northwestern Iran. The bodies of such vessels are often fluted, gadrooned, or decorated with grooves. The handles are frequently raised higher than the vessel rim with a thumb rest like modern beer mugs. Many other aspects of culture, including architectural form, mode of burial, and style of bronze weapons and small objects, were altered at this time, leading some scholars to suggest a migration of new people into the region at the beginning of the Iron Age.

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