Bichrome Red Amphora with Concentric Circles and a Row of White Dots

Cypro-Archaic I–II, c. 700–480 BCE · Bichrome Red ware · Wheel-made

An ovoid amphora on a low ring base, with a wide cylindrical neck, a flat rim and two strap handles that spring from the rim and drop to the shoulder. The whole surface carries an orange-red slip, now dulled and flaking. On the neck a row of concentric-circle motifs floats on the red ground, each drawn with a multiple brush around a dark central dot. A black band at the base of the neck is set with a row of small white dots, the one place where the third colour survives clearly. Further circle groups sit on the shoulder between the handles, above a belt of black lines at the widest point.

A thick grey-white burial crust covers much of the lower body, and the slip has scaled away in patches. The upper left handle shows an uneven join at its root that may be an old mend.

Commentary

The vessel belongs to the red-slipped family of Iron Age Cypriot pottery. Black paint on a red slip defines Black-on-Red ware; when white is added as a third colour, Gjerstad's classification calls the ware Bichrome Red [1]. The row of white dots on the neck band is the feature that places this amphora in Bichrome Red. Plain "Bichrome" is reserved for the light-ground ware painted in red and black, so the red slip rules that name out here.

Gjerstad counted Bichrome Red from its own first stage, with the overall period number in brackets: Bichrome Red I (IV) falls in Cypro-Archaic I and Bichrome Red II (V) in Cypro-Archaic II. He described stage II as the more richly decorated, with a heavier use of the supplementary colours [1]. The restraint here, isolated circles and a single dotted band with no floral or figured motifs, fits stage I better, though stage II cannot be excluded. Later work has argued that the ware began somewhat earlier than Gjerstad allowed, so his bracketed numbers may place its beginning too late [2]. A date between about 700 and 480 BCE covers both stages.

The decoration descends directly from Black-on-Red, in which isolated concentric circles on the neck and shoulder of jars and amphorae are the most characteristic ornament [1]. The closest parallel in decoration is a small Cesnola amphoriskos in New York, with circles on a red ground and a band of white dots at the neck [4]. A larger red-slipped amphora in the same collection repeats the circles on neck and shoulder [5]. An excavated Bichrome Red I (IV) amphoriskos from Marion Tomb 8, now in Stockholm, came from a Cypro-Archaic II deposit and shows that the class was still in use in that phase [6]. In the Severis collection a large amphora (H. 41.4 cm) of Bichrome Red I (IV) combines concentric circles with bands of black and white [3].

Closed vessels of this kind held oil, wine or other liquids in the household and were placed in chamber tombs as containers for the dead; no residue analysis has been made on this piece, so its contents are unknown. Gjerstad assigned the circle-based schemes mainly to the west and north of the island, around Marion and Lapithos [1]. That pattern suggests a western or northern workshop without proving one. The height has not yet been recorded, and the handle roots need examination to establish whether either handle has been reattached.