amphora

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Object Type: amphora
Museum number: 1894,1101.133
Description: Bichrome V pottery amphora decorated on either side with a large marine creature with a long beak; wheel-made; ovoid-globular body; cylindrical neck with a thick, rolled everted rim; horizontal loop handles on each side of the body; annular base; decorated in black paint on a white slip; the main frieze on each side is framed with parallel bands of paint of varying width; the large fishes (possibly dolphins), swimming right or left respectively, are painted in silhouette with the scales and eye socket indicated by exposing the white ground beneath; neck of the vase painted in bands of red and black: a frieze of lozenges in black on a white ground hangs just below the rim.
Cultures/periods: Cypro-Archaic II
Production date: 600BC-475BC
Production place: Made in: Amathus (historic)
Excavator/field collector: Excavated by: Turner Bequest Excavations, Amathus
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Amathus (historic), Site D, tomb 52
Materials: pottery
Ware: Bichrome Ware (Bichrome V)
Technique: wheel-made; slipped; painted
Dimensions: Height: 17.50 centimetres; Width: 6.50 centimetres (mouth)
Curator's comments: Belongs to the Amathus Style which is influenced by contemporary Attic Black figure vases (see Reyes, Archaic Cyprus, 1994, p. 111).
Bibliographic references: Vase / Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum (C959); Karageorghis and Des Gagniers 1974 / La céramique chypriote de style figuré. Âge du Fer (1050-500 av. J.-C.) (cat. Amathus Style, 12; p. 515); Murray, Smith and Walters 1900 / Excavations in Cyprus (p.107, fig154, p.118)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: fish
Acquisition name: From: Turner Bequest Excavations, Amathus
Funder name: Funded by: Emma Tourner Turner (bequest)
Acquisition date: 1894
Department: Greek and Roman
Registration number: 1894,1101.133
Conservation: Treatment: 28 Nov 2012

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