Glossary Pottery and vessels
Trefoil mouth
A jug mouth pinched in from the sides into three lobes, like a clover leaf, making a channel for pouring.
Pinching the rim while the clay is soft turns a round mouth into a three-lobed one with a lip at the front. It is the classic form of the Greek oinochoe and is common across the eastern Mediterranean.
In Cyprus trefoil mouths become common in the Late Bronze Age. Large trefoil jugs are a standard Plain White shape from Late Cypriot I to nearly the end of Late Cypriot II, and ribbed Bucchero jugs and White Shaved juglets often have them too.
Related terms
- Cutaway spout
A jug mouth whose neck is cut away at a slant at the front, rising to a point like a beak, so that liquid pours from the tip.
- Tankard
A tall, wide-mouthed jug with a single handle, used for serving or drinking, typical of Middle and early Late Bronze Age Cyprus.
- Bucchero ware
A Late Cypriot ware of jugs whose bodies are covered in close vertical ribs or grooves, made in handmade and wheelmade versions.
Where it appears
- Plain White Ware
- Free-Field Style: Birds, Bulls and Lotus on Cypro-Archaic Jugs
- Dippers and Ladles
- Arrows and Chevron Arrows on Cypriot Iron Age Pottery
- Birds in Ancient Cyprus
- Lotus Flowers and Lotus Friezes on Cypriot Iron Age Pottery
- Mycenaean Imports and Local Imitations
- Pottery Shapes
- Proto-White Painted Ware