Spouted pitcher

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This pitcher has a globular body, a ring base, and a slightly flared rim. A pointed spout rises vertically from a protuberance on one side of the body before extending outward horizontally. Both the body and the protuberance supporting the spout are decorated with raised ridges. The combination of the pointed spout and protuberance may suggest the form of a bird with a long beak and a crop in its neck. The pitcher is made of burnished grey clay. The body was likely made on a wheel, with the spout and raised decorations added later. This pitcher was excavated from a grave at Dinkha Tepe in northwestern Iran. During the Iron Age Dinkha Tepe was a small settlement, probably ruled by Hasanlu, a major site fifteen miles to the east. Presumably this pitcher was used to pour a liquid containing dregs, such as wine, since the round body and spout would prevent the dregs from ending up in the cup. Possibly it was used in a funerary banquet or ritual before it was placed in the grave. A cup was also found in the grave.

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