"[The first known bath] startles because it's form, dating from about 1700 B.c. or some 3600 years ago, is almost identical with the form of today." (Today being 1960). The other bath shown above is dated 1891 B.C.
This poses an interesting question, is the bath vessel we have today (and had in 1700 B.C.) ultimately the best it can be, or can it be re-designed to better? In my opinion, because the bath vessel shown in 'bathrooms' the world over can contain and hold the water we bathe in, we have neglected to further design it to do more than hold the water - with the exception of 'spa-baths' and the likes which have merely added-on extras to the form of the same vessel. It seems that baths have become more aesthetic based than function based - the form for function has been conquered in a rudimentary way - and high emphasis has been placed on the overall aesthetics of the bath itself. Even in 17090 B.C., the bath was a highly aesthetic object.
If we look to the bath vessels of today (2011), we can see that the form of the bath has still not developed much as demonstrated here in Lancamento's Bahheira Nobile at Kitchen & Bath 2011.
