Terracotta conical lekythos-oinochoe (combination oil flask and jug)
This piece and 36.11.9 are said to have been found together in Attica. They belong to a large class of unglazed vases that were made during the late eighth and early seventh centuries BCE. They have been exported in many parts of the Greek world, as far as Sicily. The production center is usually attributed to the Argolid (Peloponnese), where these vases are particularly present.
The technique is highly interesting. As their irregular contours suggest, they were not thrown on the wheel but built and roughly tooled by hand—hence the flat bottoms and the perpendicular marks on the necks. The necks were apparently rolled separately over a cylindrical object, to judge by the regularity of their inner contours. Some vases of this class are undecorated; others, like this pair, have motifs executed with a tool called a toothed-wheel, a kind of cylinder applied on clay. Only the straight lines were incised free hand. The Museum's examples are unusual in having double handles. Note the tiny "nipples" applied on the body of this example.
The technique is highly interesting. As their irregular contours suggest, they were not thrown on the wheel but built and roughly tooled by hand—hence the flat bottoms and the perpendicular marks on the necks. The necks were apparently rolled separately over a cylindrical object, to judge by the regularity of their inner contours. Some vases of this class are undecorated; others, like this pair, have motifs executed with a tool called a toothed-wheel, a kind of cylinder applied on clay. Only the straight lines were incised free hand. The Museum's examples are unusual in having double handles. Note the tiny "nipples" applied on the body of this example.
Artwork Details
- Title: Terracotta conical lekythos-oinochoe (combination oil flask and jug)
- Period: Late Geometric
- Date: late 8th–early 7th century BCE
- Culture: Greek, Attic
- Medium: Terracotta
- Dimensions: H. 8 9/16 in. (21.7 cm)
- Classification: Vases
- Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1936
- Object Number: 36.11.3
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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