14th-10th century BC. A sheet-silver chalice with flared foot, narrow stem, flared mouth; carinated band beneath the rim and repoussé guilloche decoration; frieze depicting four vines with crossed stocks extending to scrolled ends with detailed leaves and bunches of grapes; below the vines and between them four human figures comprising: a half-height crouching(?) male facing left with filet to the brow, fringed cloak, cup in the raised right hand; a seated male facing right with chalice in the right hand, low table by his foot with bowl and cup(?); seated male facing left with mantle to the left shoulder and fringed robe, holding on his lap a curved implement (pruning sickle?); the stem with tiered meander pattern. See Amiet, P., Art of the Ancient Near East, New York, 1977; Aruz, J., Art of the First Cities. The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, New York, 2003; Black, J. and Green, A., Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia, Austin, 2014.216 grams, 12.5cm (5"). From the private collection of a North West London lady; previously with a central London gallery; formerly acquired before 1990. The guilloche border is a prominent feature of many cultures of Mesopotamia and the wider region, found for example on chlorite chalices, cups and other vessels of the Early Dynastic Period (Aruz, items 231, 232, 237 and others) and in repoussé goldwork (Aruz, item 271"). The figural scenes of drinking beneath the vines with their burden of leaves and bunches of grapes are suggestive of the chalice's use as a vessel for the distribution of wine fermented from the grapes depicted in those scenes. Alcohol was routinely used in religious ceremonies as a libation (or possibly for lustration), while fermented drinks based on grapes and dates were available (Black & Green, 2014, p.28"). The figure shown with a reaping hook or sickle suggests that the maker or owner of the chalice was familiar with the cultivation and harvesting of grapes in order to produce wine.