Beak-spouted vessel

Object Details

• Description

  Vessel with flat base, oval body, hole mouth. A tubular spout with a long, beaklike opening extends from the shoulder perpendicular to the body; near the body the tube is marked by two ring ridges. A vertical ridge, like a vestigial handle, is located on the shoulder opposite the spout. The vessel is slipped and burnished a lustrous reddish-brown.

• Label

  The beak-spouted vessel with metal-inspired shape and surface finish is a characteristic ceramic shape of the second and first millennium B.C. E. in northern Iran. Numerous examples have been excavated or reported from a wide area of this region, extending from the southwest Caspian Sea to northwestern Iran. The origins of the shape are almost certainly in metal vessels, as reflected in the sharp, metallic forms and lustrous, copper-colored surfaces of the ceramic versions.

• Provenance

  To 1965

  Galerie Israel, Tel Aviv, to 1965 [1]

  From 1965 to 1994

  Frank and Joan Mount, Alexandria, VA, purchased from Galerie Israel in 1965

  From 1994

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, given by Frank and Joan Mount in 1994

  Notes:

  [1] According to Provenance Remark 1 in the object record.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Ancient Iranian Ceramics (July 16, 2011 to January 27, 2013)

  Metalwork and Ceramics from Ancient Iran (November 19, 1992 to January 22, 2004)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Galerie Israel

  Frank and Joan Mount

• Origin

  Northwest Iran

• Credit Line

  Gift of Joan and Frank Mount

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 0s, BCE 1000s

• Name

  Galerie Israel, Mount, Frank and Joan

• Topic

  Art, Ancient Near Eastern Art, Iron Age II (ca. 1250 - 800 BCE), Pottery, Iron Age I (ca. 1450 - 1250 BCE), Ceramics

• Culture

  Iranians, Middle Easterners

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)