Copper jug

Mycenaean, about 1500-1300 BC
Probably from the Peloponnese, Greece

A heavy jug of beaten copper

This large copper pitcher is made from four sheets of copper hammered into shape and rivetted together. The handle on the side of the vessel is to help with pouring: when full the jug would have been very heavy.

It is a remarkably well-preserved example of a type of vessel which was fairly common, but which rarely survives intact. Sets of bronze vessels including jugs such as this, ladles, bowls and pans have been found placed in tombs in various parts of the Etruscan world.

R. Higgins, The Greek Bronze Age (London, The British Museum Press, 1977)