Faience figure of a swimming girl

Greek, about 600 BC
From Kamiros, Rhodes, Aegean Sea

This faience ointment spoon takes the form of a swimming girl holding a bowl in her outstretched arms. Her naked body is coloured a blue-green and she has short, dark curly hair.

The spoon was probably made on the island of Rhodes but belongs to a long tradition of spoons in this form. They were made from a variety of materials, including wood and ivory, and had their origins in either Egypt or Syria in the Bronze Age.

I. Freestone and D. Gaimster, Pottery in the making: world-1 (London, The British Museum Press, 1997)