Gray Chlorite, white shell
Bactrian region
Mid-third millennium BC, Intercultural Style
Vessel with a convex-shaped base and steep rising slightly inverted wall, the rounded mouth rim with profiled band below and a further profiled band with two flat projecting side handles
The exterior with a combined snake-man design in relief with two standing figures, their bodies in full-frontal view, the heads with long hair in profile, each figure with half-stretched and raised arms holding two snakes, below each snake a leopard in profile, at one side a palm tree in relief
Below the mouth rim a frieze border in relief of two pairs of confronting intertwined snakes in profile
The animal bodies with drilled whole décor
The eyes of the figures and animals filled-in with shell inlays
Höhe: 26 cm, Durchmesser oben: 22 cm
Provenance: from an old European private collection, documented in the estate of the family since the beginning of the 20th century

Compare similar objects illustrated in: Aruz, Joan/Wallenfels, Ronald (eds.), Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. Exhib. Cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y, New York 2003, p. 335-339.

Condition

Good condition consistent with age, some restorations at the sides

Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance.