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Polychrome terracotta head vase

ca. 3rd–2nd century BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 162
The vase in the form of a woman's head and neck with two smaller female heads protruding from acanthus leaves at the top. Once, a tall statuette of a woman, now lost, was fixed between the two heads, and backed by a tall ribbed handle whose lower attachment is still visible at the back. Substantial traces of polychrome paint (white, red, green, pink, etc.), applied after firing, are still visible. Such terracotta head-vases are typical of the Hellenistic pottery production in Canosa, an ancient Daunian (native Italic) town of Apulia in southern Italy. The typology derives from successive transformations of the Greek (Attic) wine jug (oinochoe), resulting in a totally non-functional object (no bottom, no neck or spout) designed for elite local graves where they were found in great quantities. This head vase once belonged to the abundant material found in two adjacent hypogeum-graves, discovered near Canosa in 1895, and documented before being dispersed worldwide. The head was part of a woman’s grave good, together with two funnel vases in the Met collection (06.1021.246a, b and .248a, b). The other tomb was probably destined for three male warriors. The Met exhibits several objects from the latter context: two splendid red-figure oinochoai (06.1021.209, .211), a red-figure kantharos (.233), two ceremonial vases (louthrophoroi) in polychrome technique (.245, .249), a large pyxis (box) in the same technique (.253a, b), and a very large red-figure dish (lekanis) with Eos driving her chariot with four beautiful white horses (69.11.8).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Polychrome terracotta head vase
  • Period: Hellenistic
  • Date: ca. 3rd–2nd century BCE
  • Culture: Canosan, Puglia
  • Medium: Terracotta
  • Dimensions: 14 5/16 × 8 3/8 × 9 7/16 in., 9 lb. (36.4 × 21.2 × 23.9 cm, 4.1 kg)
  • Classification: Terracottas
  • Credit Line: Marguerite and Frank A. Cosgrove Jr. Fund, 2024
  • Object Number: 2024.352
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art

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