Bushel with geometric decoration

This vase, known as a ‘bushel’, comes from the great necropolis of Susa, a city in south-western Iran founded at the end of the 5th millennium BCE. The necropolis, located at the foot of a monumental brick platform that formed the religious centre of the nascent city, yielded several thousand vases which had been deposited as offerings in the tombs. Each vessel, unique in its decoration, is made from a very fine light-coloured clay and decorated with geometric or animal motifs painted in black. Thick, zigzagging lines decorate the entire height of the vase’s belly. The motifs in the corners are variously interpreted, as arrow holsters planted in the ground, as reeds, or as wading birds resting in their nests.