Archaic I

Terracotta barrel jug with strainer

Barrel-shaped jugs, with and without strainers, are quite common in Archaic Cypriot pottery. Because they do not stand on their own, they must have served a very specific function. Found in tombs mainly in eastern Cyprus, they may have been purely funerary. This example is decorated with a large bird in flight, his talons drawn up, flanked by a pair of lotus flowers. H. 13 3/4 in. (35 cm) length 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm) diameter 3 15/16 in. (10 cm)

Date

750 - 600 BC

Accession No.

74.51.517

Collection

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Provenance

References

Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 765, 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. 159, p. 100, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 286, pp. 245, 462, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.