Vessel with a lid

Unknown

ca. mid-1st millennium BCE · Calcite alabaster · Ancient Near Eastern Art

This beehive-shaped alabaster vessel is small and squat with a flat bottom and two pierced lug handles at the shoulder. Its lid has a pierced handle on top. This type of vessel was probably intended as a container that could be sealed by tying the handle on the lid to the lug handles on the vessel. Due to the weight of the stone and the skilled workmanship involved, it has been suggested that these vessels were made to hold a valuable commodity, perhaps a semi-solid ointment. They are found in southwestern Arabia in the last half of the first millennium B.C.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. mid-1st millennium BCE

Medium

Calcite alabaster

Department

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Credit line

From The Collection of Nina and Gordon Bunshaft, Bequest of Nina Bunshaft, 1994