Central Asia, Bactrian, ca. 2500 to 2250 BCE. Skillfully carved from grey-green schist, an ornately incised vessel with a cylindrical form that rises to a slightly flared flat rim and resolves at the bottom to a square base. Its surface is meticulously embellished with incised rings around the neck and toward the base where four triangular panels adorned with waves grace the faces. Polished stone vessels are common grave goods from this time period, and they often were left in the tomb with a food offering; however, ancient Mesopotamian vessels with more elaborate decorative/iconographic programs like this example may have contained prized possessions or luxury products, and given their impressive aesthetic qualities as well as the fact that archaeologists have typically found them in temple, grave, and palace sites must have been regarded as precious objects themselves. Size: 1.25" W x 3" H (3.2 cm x 7.6 cm)

Provenance: ex-J.M.E. collection; acquired in Paris, France, April 1993

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#123490

Minor surface wear with small, old chips to rim and base. Overall excellent.