Monash University
Browse

Corinthian aryballos

Download (41.87 kB)
educational resource
posted on 2022-08-09, 07:54 authored by Centre for Ancient Cultures MuseumCentre for Ancient Cultures Museum


Corinthian sea-urchin-shaped aryballos with round bottom, decorated with parallel lines on the short neck and shoulder and with dots and various filler ornaments and incisions (lines, network, quatrefoil pattern with interstices and petals) on the spherical body, black on a light background. Around and on upper surface of the disc mouth are a simple pattern of concentric circles. The decoration under the thin vertical handle, possibly a rough crossed circle, has faded out. Particularly common in the Archaic period, these small vessels were mainly produced in Corinth with throwing, firing and glazing processes and widely distributed. They were used to contain perfumes and aromatic oils for personal use.

Stylistic remarks: the quatrefoil motif is very frequent in the Late Corinthian period.

Object number: 127.066.

Date: 580–550 BCE

Parallels: exceptionally similar examples Austin, Blanton Museum of Art 1980.36; London, British Museum 1877,0930.2, 2000,0215.4; Florence, Museo Archeologico Nazionale 1200753337; compare also with 1860,0201.22, 1860,0404.21, 1860,0404.23, 1863,0728.58, 1877,0930.3, 1888,0601.651; Bristol, Bristol Museum H4009, Ha5672; Urbana, Spurlock Museum of World Cultures 1922.01.0016, 1922.01.0017; Wellesley, Davis Museum and Cultural Center 1950.22.b, 1980.85; New Haven, The Yale University Art Gallery 1988.80.38; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum 71.AE.203, 71.AE.204, 85.AE.52, 86.AE.44, 92.AE.4; Athens, Museum of Cycladic Art ΚΠ0027; very similar example Christchurch, Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities 33.55.

References: A Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London: William Nicol, 1851-1870; Wisseman, S. U., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Philipp von Zabern: Mainz, 1989, pp. 7-8; Schreiber, T., Athenian Vase Construction: A Potter's Analysis, Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999; Cohen, B. (ed.), The Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases, exh. cat., Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2006, p. 152, fig. 2; Hall, J. M., A History of the Archaic Greek World, ca. 1200-479 BCE, Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2007, p. 115, fig. 5.3; Volioti, K., and Papageorgiou, M., "A new signed Corinthian aryballos", Talanta–Proceedings of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society, vol. 46, 2015, pp. 107-120.

Photo by Steve Morton

History