Glossary Pottery and vessels
Pyxis
Also called: pyxides
A small lidded box or jar, often cylindrical, used to hold cosmetics, jewellery or other small valuables.
The Greek name is used for small covered containers in clay, stone, ivory, glass and faience. Most were made for personal belongings such as cosmetics, jewellery or small tools, and they are often found in tombs. The lid usually fits over the rim or into a ledge inside it.
Late Bronze Age and later tombs in Cyprus have produced pyxides in glass and faience as well as clay. They are found with juglets, flasks and pomegranate-shaped jars in the richer tombs of sites such as Enkomi, where the small glass and faience vessels were luxury imports or products of local workshops working in foreign styles.
Related terms
- Stirrup jar
A closed jar with a solid false neck on top, bridged by two handles like a stirrup, and a separate spout on the shoulder for pouring oil.
- Open and closed shapes
The basic division of vessel forms: open shapes have a mouth as wide as the body, closed shapes narrow to a neck or small opening.