Ca. 3000–2000 BC. Indus Valley Civilisation. A shallow terracotta bowl in a deep amber colour standing on a ring foot. The interior is decorated with a lion, two stylised birds and linear motifs. The central panel is decorated with concentric squares and further geometric motifs. The exterior is undecorated. The Indus civilization, also called the Harappan civilization, is the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent and was an important Bronze Age culture that arose around ca. 3300 BC and lasted until ca. 1300 BC. It extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. The nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500–1700 BC, though the southern sites may have lasted later into the 2nd millennium BC. Large numbers of ceramic vessels decorated with black slip have been found among the sophisticated urban settlements of South Asia's protohistoric Indus Valley civilization. The walls of this jar are so thin that it must have been created on a potter's wheel. Perhaps the best-known artefacts of the Indus civilization are a number of small seals, generally made of steatite depicting a wide variety of animals, both real—such as elephants, tigers, rhinoceros, and antelopes—and fantastic creatures. Sometimes human forms are included. A few examples of Indus stone sculpture have also been found, usually small and representing humans or gods. There is a fair number of small terra-cotta bowls decorated with figures of animals like the present item. To find out more about the Indus civilisation and its material culture, see Possehl, Gregory L., 2002. The Indus Civilization: a Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Provenance: Property of a West London gentleman; previously in a collection formed on the UK/International art market in the 1980s. Size: L:95mm / W:220mm ; 710g