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HOME :
Asian Art :
Indus Valley Vessels : Slip-painted Terracotta Vessel
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Slip-painted Terracotta Vessel - RP.134
Origin: India, Pakistan
Circa: 3000
BC
to 2000
BC
Dimensions:
9" (22.9cm) high
x 12" (30.5cm) wide
Collection: Asian Art
Medium: Terracotta
Location: UAE
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| Description |
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The Indus Valley civilization was rediscovered in
1920-21 when engraved
seals were unearthed in the Punjab province of
Pakistan at a site called
Harappa, a name which is often used to describe the
civilization as a whole.
Subsequent excavations at Harappa revealed the
size and complexity of this
ancient city. Other sites were unearthed as well
along the banks of the Indus
River, including the equally large city of
Mohenjodaro. Through archaeological
and historical research, we can now say for certain
that a highly developed
urban civilization flourished in the Indian
subcontinent over five thousand
years ago. Though the Indus Valley script remains
undeciphered, the
numerous seals, statuary, and pottery discovered
during excavations, not to
mention the urban ruins, have enabled scholars to
construct a reasonably
plausible account of the Indus Valley civilization.
Some kind of centralized state, and certainly fairly
extensive town planning, is
suggested by the layout of the great cities of
Harappa and Mohenjodaro. The
same kind of burnt brick appears to have been used
in the construction of
buildings in cities that were several hundred miles
apart. The weights and
measures also show a very considerable regularity,
suggesting that these
disparate cities spread out across a vast desert
shared a common culture. The
Indus Valley people domesticated animals, and
harvested various crops, such
as cotton, sesame, peas, barley, and cotton. Indus
Valley seals have been
excavated in far away cities such as Sumer,
suggesting that a wealthy
merchant class existed, engaged in extensive
trading throughout the
subcontinent and the Near East.
Other than the archaeological ruins of Harappa and
Mohenjodaro, these seals
provide the most detailed clues about the character
of the Indus Valley people.
Bulls and elephants appear on these seals, but the
horned bull, most scholars
agree, should not be taken to be congruent with
Nandi, for the horned bull
appears in numerous Central Asian figures as well.
The women portrayed on
the seals are shown with elaborate coiffures,
sporting heavy jewelry,
suggesting that the Indus Valley people were an
urbane people with cultivated
tastes and a refined aesthetic sensibility. A few
thousand seals have been
discovered in Indus Valley cities, showing some 400
pictographs: too few in
number for the language to have been ideographic,
and too many for the
language to have been phonetic.
- (RP.134)
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