Ca. 3000-2000 BC. A wheel-thrown pottery vessel standing on a flat foot, the bottom section of the body flares upwards to the centre ridge of the body, at this point, it slopes inwards towards the rim. The exterior is painted with a scene of a crouching tiger hunting a bird. The earliest traces of civilisation in the Indian subcontinent are to be found in places along, or close, to the Indus River. Excavations first conducted in 1921-22, in the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, both now in Pakistan, pointed to a highly complex civilization that first developed some 4,500-5,000 years ago, and subsequent archaeological and historical research has now furnished us with a more detailed picture of the Indus Valley Civilization and its inhabitants.Size: L:90mm / W:110mm ; 240gProvenance: Property of a West London gentleman; previously in a collection formed on the UK/International art market in the 1980s.