Hellenistic

Terracotta jug with a pitcher-spout

This jug is a variation on a type of Cypriot vessel that has a figurine holding the oinochoe, which serves as its spout. Despite the absence of such a figure, which when present often helps to date jugs of this kind, the overall form of the pitcher identifies it as a product of the Hellenistic period. The wreaths and fillets painted on the white-slip ground are funerary motifs often seen on white ground lekythoi, vases specifically used as grave gifts. Of particular interest are the small clay "rivets" visible at the top of the back handle, which relates this clay jug to a metal prototype. h. 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm)

Date

310 - 150 BC

Accession No.

74.51.544

Collection

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Provenance

From Cyprus

References

Cesnola, Luigi Palma di. 1885. A Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection of Cypriote Antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Vol. 1. pl. CXXXVI.996, Boston: James R. Osgood and Company.Myres, John L. 1914. Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. no. 943, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 130, 270, pl. 110c, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Vessberg, Olof and Alfred Wesholm. 1956. The Swedish Cyprus Expedition, Vol. 4, Pt. 3. p. 59, fig. 23:6, Stockholm: Håkan Ohlssons Boktryckeri.