Jar

Object Details

• Description

  Wheelmade globular jar with round bottom. A sharp carination marking the shoulder slopes to a wide mouth with everted rim. The surface is covered with a beige slip, with brown paint decoration arranged in concentric zones. A solida brown band encircles both inner and outer rim. Four concentric brown bands encircle the jar just below the neck, forming the upper border of a concentric band decorated with two water birds painted in silhouette and outline face. Arranged opposite one another, the birds alternate with two chevrons consisting of four painted bands, also arranged one opposite the other. Solid bands and a wavy brown band form the next "register," below which is another open concentric zone decorated with a "flame" or "tooth" motif (five spaced at roughly equal intervals). Below this zone, at the maximum diameter of the pot, is a solid band that forms the lower limit of the painted decoration.

• Label

  Earthenware decorated with geometric and figural painted designs in contrasting colors had a long history in northern and western Iran, appearing before 6000 B.C.E. in the earliest era of pottery-making. Favored decorative schemes consisted of designs painted in black on a red surface, or in red or brown on a pale, buff surface. In the most successful products of the painted styles, the artisan achieved an almost perfect correspondence between shape and decoration. Here, for example, concentric zones of decoration encircle the body, carrying the eye around the vessel and emphasizing its volume.

  Several features link this pot closely with examples excavated from the cemetery at Tepe Giyan in western Iran: the globular, carinated shape; the beige slip decorated with brown paint; the arrangement of the decoration in concentric zones; and the repertory of individual motifs (water birds, chevrons, "flame" or "tooth" pattern). The intact condition of the pot also indicates a burial context. Comparisons with examples recovered from the burials at Tepe Giyan, together with information from the settlement excavated at Godin Tepe, suggest a place of manufacture near Tepe Giyan in western Iran and a date of circa 2000 B.C.E.

• Provenance

  ?-2005

  Mr. and Mrs. Osborne (1914-2004) and Gratia Hauge (d. 2000) [1]

  From 2005

  The National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, by gift of Osborne and Gratia Hauge, and Victor and Takako Hauge [2]

  Notes:

  [1] The Hauge family began collecting Asian paintings, sculpture, and ceramics in the late 1940s and would amass a large collection in the post-World War II years.

  [2] Ownership of collected objects sometimes changed between members of the Hauge families. See Deed of Gift, dated October 16, 2005, copy in object file. From 2005-2023 the work was part of the National Museum of Asian Art’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection and on March 21, 2023, the work was internally transferred to the National Museum of Asian Art Collection.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Shaping Clay in Ancient Iran (September 8, 2018 to November 24, 2020)

  Asian Traditions in Clay: The Hauge Gifts (October 29, 2000 to April 22, 2001)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mr. and Mrs. Osborne and Gratia Hauge ((1914-2004) and (1907-2000))

• Origin

  Iran

• Credit Line

  Gift of Osborne and Gratia Hauge

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  BCE 2000s, BCE 1000s

• Name

  Hauge, Osborne and Gratia

• Topic

  Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600 - 1200 BCE), Art, Hauge collection, Ancient Near Eastern Art, Pottery, Ceramics

• Culture

  Iranians, Middle Easterners

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)