Large Two-Handle Terracotta Vessel from Luristan

Culture: Iran/Luristan

Period: 1000-800 B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 20.8 cm high

Price: 900 Euro

Ref: 6553

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994) with the inventory number 19A. Acquired between 1960 and early 1980s. Thence in a family estate. With an old collection note.

Condition: A restoration on the rim, otherwise very beautifully preserved.

Description: Large hand-formed vessel from the Iranian Luristan culture with brown decoration on crème-coloured primer. The bulbous vase stands on a flattened base. Two semi-circular, vertical handles sit on the shoulder. The neck is curved inwards, the massive spout estuary-shaped. The painting depicts so-called hatched kites, which are typical for the Iron Age Luristan ceramics. Above dotted decoration, which is framed on top and at the bottom by three wavy lines encircling the neck. On the outside of the handles painted ladders. This vessel belongs to the so-called “Baba Jan III Painted Ware”, named after the settlement hill Baba Jan Tepe, which was intensively excavated in the 1960s. See for the type the vessel in the National Museum of Asian Art in the Smithsonian Washington with the Accession Number S1998.22.