Figure Item Number: 3586/1 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Small ceramic bird, standing upright, with a rotund body; body tapers to a tall foot with concave base. Bird has three-dimensional wings on either side, pointed forward and flush to sides; circular eyes sculpted on either side of face. Wings, top of head, and eyes are painted black. Artist mark imprinted along bottom edge of body, on back of figure.
Figure is meant to be a replica of an artifact from the archaeological site of the Indus Valley Civilization (2600-1900 BCE), located west of Sahiwal in central Punjab.
Purchased by the donor from the artist at the "Daachi" craft fair in Lahore in 2018. The artist's father, Muhammad Nawaz, worked with American archaeologist Jonathan Mark Kenoyer on the Harappa Archaeological Research Project, to help him understand how ancient pottery might have been made. Nawaz began the project to replicate ancient vessels, in collaboration with Kenoyer, and Allah Ditta continued the work after his father's death.