Bowl fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This bowl has been pieced together from seventeen sherds. Approximately half of the rim is preserved with the exterior and inner side decorated with brown paint on a buff background typical of pottery belonging to the Halaf culture. A lozenge pattern with central dots decorates the exterior and lozenges and striations adorn the inner rim. Halaf pottery is remarkable for the quality of its production and, as a result, often survives at sites dating to this period.

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