Pottery jug with high spout

Middle Bronze Age, about 1800-1550 BC
Probably from the island of Mílos, the Cyclades, Aegean Sea

The suggestion of a female form

This high-spouted jug is of a type characteristic of the Cycladic islands in the Middle Bronze Age, with dark, matt paint applied to a white background.

The potters were clearly aware of the humorous links between these rather cheerful-looking vessels, with their perky, upward-tilted spouts, and the human form. Here, as on others, the potter has applied small nipples to the front of the jug. Occasionally such jugs wear necklaces, and have eyes painted on each side of the spout.

R.L.N. Barber, The Cyclades in the Bronze Age (London, Duckworth, 1987)

R.A. Higgins, Minoan and Mycenean art, new revised edition (London, Thames & Hudson, 1997)