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
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.