This striking anthropomorphic vessel was made in the early days of the 1st millennium AD by a potter of the Kushan Empire. It is essentially a globular flask, with a rounded body, a tapering central neck and a loop handle posteriorly. The flask is painted reddish-orange, and is decorated with a dark horizontal panel of geometrically reductivist faces in profile, demarcated by a line of waves inferiorly and a band of foliate design above. The neck of the vessel is similarly decorated, giving way to the jawline of the head which forms the very top of the pouring spout. The face is comparatively long, with oversized, rimmed, almond-shaped eyes, an angular nose and a nugatory mouth. It has a single lock of dark hair running from each ear and curling anteriorly. The handle – which is decorated in a similar manner–iscomparatively low,andreachesthenapeofthehead’sneck Black Painted Earthenware Jarwith Anthropomorphic Spout - LO.664 (LSO)Origin: Central Asia Circa: 200 AD to 400ADDimensions: 8.50" (21.6cm) high Collection: Near Eastern Art Style: Kushan Medium: Terracotta

Antiquities
Ancient Asian