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A FINE INDUS VALLEY CERAMIC VESSEL,

Currency:AUD Category:Antiques Start Price:300.00 AUD Estimated At:600.00 - 800.00 AUD
A FINE INDUS VALLEY CERAMIC VESSEL,
A FINE INDUS VALLEY CERAMIC VESSEL, Mehrgarh, 4th Mill. BC, decorated with geometric and figurative motifs of birds of prey in polychrome mineral earth pigments beneath old encrustations, some loss to pigments, otherwise intact and stable, 15x23cm Provenance: From an Australian collection Reference: c.f. Bahn 1992: ..."The Indus Civilisation is one of the great civilisations of antiquity, located in Pakistan, Baluchistan and NW India. [Occupied from c.6th Mill. BC]... in the greater Indus valley, [one of its later and important cities was Harappa dated to c.3rd millennium BC] excavated by M.S. Vats in the 1920s and 1930s, by M. Wheeler in the 1940s and more recently by G. Dales... The Mature Harappan [2600-2500 BC] is typified by urban centers and massive 'public' architecture, the use of characteristic 'administrative' devices, a still undeciphered writing system, square seals, and metrical standards, especially for weight, technological sophistication, and wide contacts with surrounding regions, from Central Asia to southeastern Arabia and southern Mesopotamia. Covering an enormous area some 800,000 sq km..." Bahn P. (ed) 1992, Collins Dictionary of Archaeology, HarperCollins, Glasgow, pp.202-203. Note: Certificate of authenticity is available to the buyer of this lot