Before you is a terracotta vase decorated with a magnificent head of Medusa—a mythological creature known to have fangs, wings, and hair made of venomous snakes. Here wings sprout from her head and two serpents surround her face. Notice how the serpents’ tails are tied beneath her chin, and how their heads support a small platform between Medusa’s wings.

Originally, a small terracotta statuette surmounted this ledge. Likewise the small plinths atop the handles of the vase once supported statuettes. These have been restored as small figures of love, in other words, Erotes. The sculptural decoration reads exceptionally well against the pristine form of the vase itself. Clean lines define a globular body rising up to meet a narrow neck and wide funnel mouth. Notice how the entire vase is covered with a white lime wash that gives it the impression of crisply, carved stone.

This vase was found in a tomb at Canosa, an Apulian town in southeastern Italy. Medusa’s time-honored function as guardian and averter of evil would serve quite well its owner’s final resting place.