Anatolian, ca. 3500-2500 B.C.

Terracotta

H: 18.5 cm

PROVENANCE: Ex- Ambassador GP collection, 1956- 1965, Jerusalem.

Serial No: 17525

This beak-spouted jug is a beautiful example of a type well known in Western Anatolia during the 3rd millennium B.C. It has a high, beak-shaped neck, and a round, globular body.  A single strap handle connects to the mouth above, and the body below. The body is black-burnished, and there are white painted motifs (parallel lines forming long zig-zags, and a rounded, curling motif around the central knob). In addition to the painted decoration, there are areas of decoration in relief, in the form of knobs and raised lines).

Beak-spouted jugs of this type are found in many Western Anatolian sites dating from the 3rd millennium B.C., often in funerary contexts. The shape is undoubtedly that of a pouring vessel; it is possible that either the vessels themselves or the liquid poured from them served an essential role in the rituals commemorating the deceased. With its large globular body and tall, straight neck, it is likely that this common shape had prototypes in metal.

Anatolia is the name currently applied to the Asian territory of modern Turkey. The art of Anatolia has an unusually long history extending from antiquity to the modern day. It encompasses the material culture of numerous civilizations: the Hittite (18th - 12th century B.C.), Assyrian (19th - 9th century B.C.) and Akkadian empires (24th - 22nd century B.C.) in the Bronze Age, followed by the Seleucid (4th - 1st century B.C.) and Seljuk empires (11th - 12th century A.D.). Anatolian works of art were transported along trade routes to Greece and Italy, and therefore some aspects of Greek and Roman art draw their inspiration from Anatolia as well as the Near East.