Jar with geometric designs

Jar with geometric designs

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This jar has a narrow mouth and a squat, globular body that sits on a small, concave base. It is made of a reddish clay decorated with black ovals arranged into rows and separated into panels by several pairs of thick horizontal lines. There are four small holes around the mouth, which may have been used to secure a lid. The jar was made by hand, and possibly finished on a slow wheel. This type of pottery, sometimes called ‘Cheshmeh Ali ware,’ originated in the region around Tehran in the late sixth millennium BC and is found throughout northern Iran. A very similar jar was excavated at Kara Tepe, a prehistoric site about 22 miles (36 km) southwest of Tehran, and another vessel with similar decoration but with a high foot was found at Ismailabad, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Tehran. The function of this jar is not clear. Its medium size, thin walls and decorations suggest it was not a storage vessel, but was used in some sort of group dining activity; otherwise there would be no point in decorating it. But the shape would have made it unsuitable for eating or drinking out of, except through a straw, and it is too large for a single individual to hold. Perhaps it was a serving vessel, or possibly multiple people ate or drank from it at once.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.