Critical Archive of the Visual and Related Arts
Unknown Artists: Danilo
5th-millennium BCE, 4th-millennium BCE
Zadar, Croatia: Archaeological Museum Zadar
61%
Ceremonial Vessel. c4700-3900 BCE. Ceramic
The curvilinear pattern on this vessel's circular handle, set against and above the hatched geometry of its body, is provocative. Not only do these two decorative systems appear basically opposed in a visual sense (although there is some hatching in the empty spaces between the curves up top), but the artist incised them differently, too — deep marks for the spirals, fast and shallow ones for the linear portion — suggesting, perhaps, that a basic metaphysical dichotomy is being expressed. This would make sense given its likely function: the downward slope of the bowl-portion implies a ritual use (it would be tough to actually drink or eat out of this thing). This object's aesthetic value, which is slim but undeniable, lies in the way its overall physiognomy responds to its ritual purpose in a way that facilitates the symbolic procedures of its patterning. The legged pot's haunches push back and downwards, away from the vessel's mouth as if to emphasize its readiness to accept and contain whatever sacred items it's meant to hold. This bonus bit of corpulence — symbolically but not functionally demanded — finds its echo in the rotund shape and patterning of the vessel's ringed handle, which seems to resolve the tilting asymmetricality of the base through the perfection of circularity. (TFS, 2025)