Question

he tore his gaze away from the duck to examine the next piece, a tall jug with ribbed lines that imitated the shape of a melon.
in the sentence above, imitated has the same or almost the same meaning as:
resembled
predicted
colored
covered

Explanation:

"Imitated" means to copy or resemble something. "Resembled" means to look like or be similar to. "Predicted" means to say in advance what will happen. "Colored" means to give color to. "Covered" means to put something over or on top of. So "imitated" is closest in meaning to "resembled".

Answer:

resembled