This pot was found in the Indus Valley (an area
that is now known as Pakistan and northwestern
India) and is dated circa 3000 – 2000 B.C.
There are clear delicately painted decorative
motifs around the entire bulbous form. The
chocolate brown outlines illustrate two long
turquoise and tope colored fish swimming in a
sandy colored background and surrounded by
inverted heart-shaped water colored petals.
Intermittently, stream like illustrations between
two banks of vertical lines each run from the lip
of the vessel to its middle.
The bottom half of the vessel is notably
undecorated.
While the shape and crafting of the vessel are
delicate, with a sensitively molded lip at its
opening and its base, one is yet struck by the
solidity and strength of this item and that after
millennia it remains intact.
The pot is thought to be for funerary purposes,
containing offerings for the deceased for their
provision in the after life. The fact that it is
intact, as examples of these artifacts are and that
they are often found in sealed tombs attests to
this contention. The decorative fish may indicate
what at one time was their contents. The stream
may imply the journey in the afterlife.
- (SP.592)
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