Northern Iran, 1250 – 800 BCE
Orange baked clay with reddish glaze
35.2 x 13.8 x 17.2 (5.0) cm LWH (Ø opening), L (beak) 21.5 cm
Intact, calcium carbonate deposits

Beaked vessels were produced in the north-west of present-day Iran as early as the 2^nd millennium BCE. At the excavation sites Tepe Sialk in Luristan and Marlik in the Gilan Province of the Iranian highlands in particular, they formed a separate characteristic group of vessels at the beginning of the Iron Age that have only rarely been found beyond these production centres. This type of vessel was originally made of copper, or less commonly gold or silver, but was also often realised in clay as a less costly variation.

Corporeal associations with a bird are present through the long, bird-like beak, and are further underscored with various additions and alterations[1]. This vessel has a stocky spherical belly and stands on three conically shaped legs. Liquids were poured in through a relatively narrow, lower funnel neck with an outspreading opening. The front half of the long spout has a beak-like shape. A bent, thorn-like attachment near the opening at the place where the spout merges with the beak has five button-like plates fastened with slur. The suggestion of a mouth recalls a snakehead. This attachment served as a handle to better hold the filled and therefore heavy vessel. A handle attached axi ally to the spout on the opposite shoulder forms its counterpart.

Beak-shaped vessels served the ritual offering of liquids. The long beak and the additional grip attached to it enabled its precise handling in conjunction with dispensing the liquid required at offerings in the temple or at a burial site.

André Wiese, 2011

Literature
E.O. Negahban, Marlik. The Complete Excavation Report, The University Museum Mono graph 87, 2 vols. Philadelphia PA 1996, 232 ff. no. 572 ff. plates 109 f. W. Seipel (ed.), 7000 Jahre persische Kunst. Meisterwerke aus dem Iranischen Nationalmuseum in Teheran, exhibition catalogue Basel, Vienna 2003, 160 ff. no. 87. T. S. Kawami, Ancient Iranian Ceramics from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, New York 1992, 109 no. 36, 218 f. no. 122 f., 223 no. 148. Vom Euphrat zum Nil. Kunst aus dem alten Ägypten und Vorderasien, Gesellschaft der Freunde eines Schweizerischen Orient-Museums, exhibition catalogue Kartause Ittingen, Zurich 1985, 82 – 85 no. 43f. Stiftung DKM, Iran Amlash, Duisburg 2011, 32 – 33, Kat. Nr. 6.

[1] see Stiftung DKM, Iran Amlash, Duisburg 2011, cat.-no. 7.