Vessel in the Form of a Horn
This enigmatic object in the shape of a horn with a curled end is related in stone type and patina to two forms of earrings—one circular and the other with addorsed horned animals—associated with the Sa Hyunh culture of southern Vietnam. One end of the "horn" has been carved to form a small cavity that could have been used to hold a liquid. It is possible that this delicate sculpture was a funerary object intended to replace a more perishable horn item. Little understood and known only through archaeological excavations, the Sa Hyunh culture is thought to have played an important role in the trade in luxury goods—ceramics, metalwork, and stone goods—that flourished between different regions of mainland and island Southeast Asia.
Artwork Details
- Title: Vessel in the Form of a Horn
- Date: ca. 500 BCE–100 CE
- Culture: Vietnam (Sa Huynh culture?)
- Medium: Stone
- Dimensions: H. 2 3/4 (7 cm); Diam. 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm)
- Classification: Hardstone
- Credit Line: Purchase, Rogers Fund, Josephine L. Berger-Nadler and Dr. M. Leon Canick Gift, and John and Evelyn Kossak Foundation Inc. Gift, 1999
- Object Number: 1999.276
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Vietnam
late 2nd–3rd century
Vietnam
14th century
Vietnam
15th century
Vietnam
ca. 15th–16th century
Vietnam (Champa)
ca. first half of the 10th century
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