Stem of pedestal vase

Unknown

ca. 3100 BCE · Ceramic, paint · Ancient Near Eastern Art

This ceramic tube is the pedestal of a goblet or stemmed bowl. It is made of red clay and decorated with black paint. It was excavated at Yarim Tepe in northeastern Iran, six miles south of the modern town of Gonbad-e Kavus. Yarim Tepe was a small settlement, inhabited from the Neolithic to the Parthian period, with many interruptions. Pedestal vessels have been discovered at other sites in the region, such as Shah Tepe, Tureng Tepe and Tepe Hissar, dating to the late Chalcolithic period. This pedestal probably dates to the same period, when this region served as an important link between the emerging cities of Mesopotamia and Afghanistan, one of the few sources of both tin and lapis lazuli in the ancient Near East.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 3100 BCE

Medium

Ceramic, paint

Culture

Iran

Department

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit line

Purchase, H. Dunscombe Colt Gift, 1963