amphora

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Object Type: amphora
Museum number: 1894,1101.682-684
Description: Fragments of a pottery amphora in Bichrome V ware, reconstructed as a complete vessel with plaster, decorated with a female head of Hathor type painted in silhouette with incised details; ovoid-globular body; low ring base; cylindrical neck (rim missing); between the handles (also missing) is a frieze framed above by floral and abstract motifs and below by an indeterminate scheme; the central frieze depicts a Hathor head with incised details on the hair, with stylised trees on each side; the large panels on either side are in-filled with cross-hatching.
Cultures/periods: Cypro-Archaic II
Production date: 600BC-480BC
Production place: Made in: Cyprus, Amathus (?)
Excavator/field collector: Excavated by: Turner Bequest Excavations, Amathus
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Amathus (historic), Site D', tomb 129
Materials: pottery
Ware: Bichrome Ware (Bichrome V)
Type series: Amathus Style
Technique: slipped; painted; incised
Dimensions: Height: 19.50 centimetres (approx.)
Curator's comments: The sherds from this vase were given three separate registration numbers. The vase belongs to the Amathus Style of Cypriot vase painting which is influenced by contemporary Attic Black Figure styles, especially in the use of incision. See Carbillet 2011 for a survey of Hathoric imagery on Cyprus. Bibliography: Carbillet A. 2011, La figure hathorique à Chypre (IIe –Ier mill. av. J.-C.). Alter Orient und Altes Testament 388 (Münster: Ugarit Verlag).
Bibliographic references: Vase / Catalogue of Vases in the British Museum (C854); Karageorghis and Des Gagniers 1974 / La céramique chypriote de style figuré. Âge du Fer (1050-500 av. J.-C.) (cat. Amathus Style, 3; p. 506); Murray, Smith and Walters 1900 / Excavations in Cyprus (p.121, Tomb 129; p. 105, fig. 152,3)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: ancient egyptian deity
Associated names: Representation of: Hathor
Acquisition name: From: Turner Bequest Excavations, Amathus
Funder name: Funded by: Emma Tourner Turner (bequest)
Acquisition date: 1894
Department: Greek and Roman
Registration number: 1894,1101.682-684

Free entry

Opening hours