Early Bronze Age Terracotta Cup from the Levant with a Desert Scene

Culture: Levant

Period: 3100-2800 B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 13.5 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 6538

Provenance: British private collection, acquired prior to 2000. Thence in a collection in Cambridgeshire. Last in the English art market.

Condition: Except for some wear on the rim intact.

Description: Interesting, hand formed terracotta beaker of the Red Ware with paint which is strongly influenced by the predynastic ceramic of neighbouring Egypt. The bulbous vessel stands on a set off, flat foot ring, is tapering towards the shoulder and merges into a protruding rim. A thick, semi-circular handle is applied about in the middle of the corpus. The dark red paint depicts on top and at the bottom desert mountains in form of painted triangles, typical for the Naqada “Decorated Ware’. Alternating the outlines of triangles. In between is floral decoration with long-stemmed plants with large, hanging, finger-like blossoms. See for the mutual influences between Egypt and the Levant in the early Bronze Age: Karin Sowada, Mary Ownby, Jane Smythe, Sylvie Marchand und Yann Tristant “Early Bronze Age exchange patterns between Egypt and the Levant: a view from First Dynasty Abu Rawash”, in: „Ägypten und die Levante“, vol. 31, p. 425-450, Vienna 2021. Also see: Mario A. S. Martin “Egyptian-Type Pottery in the Late Bronze Age Southern Levant”, Vienna 2011.