Ancient Central Asia, southern Azerbaijan and northern Iran, Ardabil region, Meshkinshar, Middle Bronze Age, ca. 2000 BCE. A hand-built and stone-burnished blackware pottery jar of broad, spherical form bearing a petite spout extending from the front of the shoulder opposite a petite ring handle. Engraved into the shoulder is a repeating register of crosshatched patterning that, along with a slightly lighter band of gray beneath, creates an intriguing presentation. A dish of such grand scale and skilled craftsmanship as this example would have been reserved for the elite of ancient society. Size: 11.6" Diameter x 8.75" H (29.5 cm x 22.2 cm)

Provenance: Private Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA collection, via inheritance; Leota Furlong Agett Persian Pottery collection, acquired in Tehran, Iran in the early 1960s