The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 17, 2026

A reddish-brown ceramic vessel features a wide, flared rim and a body tapering to a pointed base, with four curved handles at the shoulder. Incised triangles filled with dots decorate the neck above rows of circles. Around the middle, pairs of molded, four-legged creatures face each other between bands of scrolling patterns and etched lines. The burnished earthenware surface displays a mix of geometric designs and stylized relief figures.

Hittite Vessel with Four Scenes Molded and Carved in Relief

1400–1200 BCE

Eastern Turkey, Hittite

burnished earthenware
Diameter: 51 cm (20 1/16 in.); Overall: 61 cm (24 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1985.70
Location: Not on view

Description

The Hittites were a powerful people who vied with the Egyptians for control of the Near East. At times, however, alliances in the form of royal marriages were forged between the two rivals. The scene on the front of this vase shows a seated god or king holding a drinking vase in the form of a stag. Near him is a large-handled vessel in a ring stand, which illustrates how large jars such as this one were used. The standing figure is a priest pouring a liquid offering. The scene on the back of this vase shows a bow hunter using a doe with a tether as a decoy to attract a stag. Some of the hunter's arrows have already pierced the stag's hide.
  • Muscarella, Oscar White. The Lie Became Great, The Forgery of Ancient Near Eastern Cultures. Groningen: STYX Publications, 2000. Pp. 143–144, 454.
    Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1985.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (February 1986): 26–71. Mentioned: p. 62, no. 4; Reproduced: p. 36 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 5 archive.org
  • The Year in Review for 1985. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-April 20, 1986).
  • {{cite web|title=Hittite Vessel with Four Scenes Molded and Carved in Relief|url=false|author=|year=1400–1200 BCE|access-date=17 June 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.70