oinochoe
- Museum number
- 1920,1014.4
- Description
-
Pottery oinochoe.
Clay: orange-buff clay, white grits, mica, airholes, lustrous but streaky black paint.
Shape: vertical neck, globular body, flat base; round handle.
Decoration: Neck fully coated. Body: in front, two horses flanking and tethered to a manger, possibly in the form of a tripod cauldron, the bowl latticed, and the handles seen in profile as vertical projections, connected by a row of dots. Silhouette birds above and below, in a free field; a swastika above each horse’s back. On each flank, four concentric bands drawn freehand, cross in centre, a dotted circle in each quarter. Eight-armed swastika below handle root. Handle: wavy stripe between verticals, loop around lower attachment.
- Production date
- 725BC (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 22 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- CVA:
Typical of this group are the swathes of lateral circles and the round handle, features which derive from a Cypriot prototype, perhaps indirectly (E. Gjerstad, The Swedish Cyprus Expedition IV.2 (Stockholm, 1948), 299-300 n.3, where cf. fig. 24.16b; Briese-Docter 35-7). The theme of two horses tied to a tripod appears to be an innovation of LG II (Rombos 266, and 489-90 no. 285). In a study of this group’s iconography, L. Schofield reasonably suggests a function for these oinochoai as prizes awarded at aristocratic games (Klados 239-47, esp. 242).
Bibliography: GGP 74-6, XVI.13; Rombos 263-4, 266, table 38; 490, no. 286; Klados 240, fig. 5.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Complete
- Acquisition date
- 1920
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1920,1014.4
