Offering Table

Stratum II, House of Shilwa-teshshub, room 7

Glazed terracotta

1931.162.4

Height: 17.2 cm

Base diam.: 16.0 cm

Max. width: 21.5 cm

A blue-green glazed ceramic offering table with shallow bowls rising on pedestal bases from a circular ring. The bowls (four surviving, one missing) are evenly spaced around the ring and joined at their rims where they touch. There may have originally been three tiers, although only two remain. The second tier is represented by merely one high-footed cup, which sits on the join of two bowls from the lowest tier. The base is constructed of a ring of solid clay. Repaired in 1981 at the Harvard Art Museum / Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies.

Context

Early investigations on the edge of the tepe revealed the remains of four large private houses. The large volume of clay tablet business records, and the quality and quantity of the artifacts recovered from the houses, suggested the residents were people of importance and wealth. The largest house, surpassed in size only by the palace, was that of Shilwa-teshshub, a son of the king. This glazed offering table was discovered in the partially roofed courtyard (room 7) near the door of room 4, the main room of the house. The object assemblage from the courtyard included both domestic (pottery, loom weight, and pot stand) and ceremonial pieces (decorative glass and a marble mace staff-head).

Publications: Starr 1937, pl. 115A; Starr 1939, 440-41

Original Field Catalogue Entry
Unknown