Beaker with a deer

This beaker is made of cream-coloured pottery. The brownish-purple painting is characteristic of work produced in Persia in the 4th millennium BC. Two sides display a more or less identical scene within a framework of line and lozenge motifs: the stylised image of a deer stands freely in the allotted space. The creature sports a colossal pair of antlers, the horns of which branch out in near-expressionist style. A bird has alighted on the deer’s backside. A number of near-identical beakers have been found. The unusual feature of this one is the image of the little bird standing on the deer’s back, a scene that is almost without parallel.