Antiquities - ancient Iranian Marlik burnished pottery beaked bowl

W20

Iranian Marlik burnished pottery beaked bowl

£400

A very fine burnished red pottery vessel with a long ornamental spout. The neck is modelled with a series of deep grooves and the back of the body is moulded with a single vertical ridge.

The shape is thought to represent a crane. This type of vessel has been found in the royal Marlik necropolis which was initially excavated in 1961, and is believed to be associated with a type of funerary ritual. The Marlik culture is particularly known for the gold treasures buried with its dead but it was also one of the most sophisticated Iranian pottery-making cultures.

North West Iran, Marlik culture, c. 1200 - 1000 BC

Some repairs and small patches of restoration; small loss from the tip of the spout.

Size: 13.5 x 18.2 cms.

Ex. collection: Sir Denis Wright, 1911-2005. British Ambassador to Iran, 1963-1971, during which period this item was acquired.

Sir Denis was chairman of the Iran Society (1976-79) and president of the British Institute of Persian Studies (1978-87). He wrote several scholarly articles and books including The English Amongst The Persians (1977) and The Persians Amongst The English (1985); he donated a number of Iranian antiquities to British Institutions, some of which are now on display in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Early Iranian pottery remains an under-studied and also an under-valued field of antiquity. The vast territory of modern Iran was home to a large number of inter-dependent but autonomous cultures during the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, and several of these cultures produced highly refined ceramic wares. The bronze work of the Luristan and Amlash cultures are well known but the pottery-based cultures still remain shrouded in mystery due to the lack of site excavation and publication of finds.

Many of the pottery shapes and styles of decoration visible in Iranian art can also be seen in early Anatolian and Mediterranean pottery; their artistic similarities are testimony to a much wider cultural influence and trade interaction which has yet to be properly researched.

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