Indus Valley Bowl with Black and Red Pigment

£ 145.00

A finely moulded Indus Valley container, likely used in antiquity as an eating or drinking vessel. The piece features a ring foot which flares outwards towards the body. The sides slightly taper inwards at the neck leading to a wide, everted rim. The body is decorated with linear geometrical patterns in red and black pigments. This includes both parallel and intersecting lines, along with concentric squares with a cross hatching pattern across the centre one. Three continuous bands in both red and black feature above the design with a further red band below the design.

Date: Circa 2500-2000 BC
Provenance: From the David Gold (deceased) collection, 1970’s.
Condition: Very fine condition with earthly encrustations and some minor chips around the body

SOLD

SKU: SM-21 Category: Tags: ,

The Indus Valley is a Bronze Age civilization from the Near East, which lasted from 3300 BC to 31 BC. It was one of three early and widespread cradles of civilisation along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia; it was discovered when engraved seals were found in the Pakistani province of Punjab in 1920-21, first in the ancient city of Harappa and then locations down the Indus River leading to Mohenjo-daro.

Important innovations of the Indus Valley civilisation included standardised weights and measures and seal carving but were also skilled in a range of techniques including metallurgy and pottery production. Most of the pottery can be dated back to the Nal culture, which flourished in the north-west region of the Indus Valley. Their terracotta works are characterized by a linear style, a geometric repetition of shapes and lines. Also, animals and plants, rendered in a stylised manner, featured heavily on their creations.  Furthermore, short ring foots and bowls with inward-turned rims seem to be among the main properties of the Nal’s pottery. In the end, pigments could be added on the decorations, to create beautiful polychromatic vessels.

Weight 318 g
Dimensions L 14.2 x H 8.5 cm
Culture

Pottery and Porcelain

Region

Reference: For a similar item, The Metropolitan Getty Museum, item 57.99.2 .

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