Terracotta double bil-bil - image 1

Late Bronze Age I

Terracotta double bil-bil

The bil-bil, resembling an upside-down opium poppy, may have been used to contain opium or perfumed oils that were exported from Cyprus to Egypt, the Levant, and the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age. H. 4 3/16 in. (10.6 cm)

Date

1600 - 1450 BC

Accession No.

74.51.1185

Collection

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Provenance

  • From Cyprus

References

  • Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 358, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Karageorghis, Vassos, Joan Mertens, and Marice E. Rose. 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 58, p. 41, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Karageorghis, Vassos. 2002. Early Cyprus: Crossroads of the Mediterranean. pl. 73, Los Angeles, California: J. Paul Getty Museum.