Vessel with Reclining Figure and Birds
Unknown Artist
2200–200 BCE
Medium
Ceramic, pigment (cinnabar?)
Dimensions
14.3 × 14.9 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of John and Agneta Solomon
Accession Number
2017.55
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This ceramic vessel features a supine human being pecked by two birds that perch on the vessel’s doughnut-shaped chamber. The identity of the apparently mythical creature modeled in low relief on the sides of the stirrup-shaped spout is unknown. Little can be said about meaning beyond pointing out an obvious reference to death.