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2006.24.T, Mycenaean Squat Jar
Late Helladic IIIA:1 (1400 - 1375 BCE)
Height: 6.7 cm
Width: 13.5 cm
Transferred from the University of Colorado Musuem of Natural History to the CU Art Museum, University of Colorado (2006).

Description:

This is an example of a three-handled squat jar of the Late Helladic IIIA:1 Period (1400 -1375 BCE). This squat jar is made from a buff colored clay and is decorated with a dark brown slip. The neck and lip appear to have originally been covered in this slip. It is typical for the neck and handles of squat jars of this period to be one color (1). Just under the neck there is a thin band of slip followed by a frieze filled with a curved-stemmed spiral motif. The spirals under the handles are smaller than those between the handles. Roughly halfway down the body is a thicker band of slip followed by two thinner bands. This pattern of three bands on the lower portion is also typical of squat jars of this period (2).

Function and Info:

This shape, like 2006.17.T, served as a container for oil and may therefore have functioned in connection with cosmetic practices or funeral rituals. It is a precursor to the later alabastron shape, which is taller and thinner with a more rounded bottom (3).

Author: Jeff Gingras

Comparanda: Furumark, The Mycenaean Pottery , p. 41, Fig. 11 (84); p. 361 (49); p. 363, Fig. 62. (8,11,12).

This vase was originally published by Hara Tzavella-Evjen, in "Greek and Roman Vases and Statuettes from the University of Colorado Collection, Deltion 28 (1973) Athens 1975:192-197.

 

(1) P.A. Mountjoy, Mycenaean Pottery: An Introduction. (Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology 1993): 57.

(2) ibid., 57; Hara Tzavella-Evjen, in "Greek and Roman Vases and Statuettes from the University of Colorado Collection," Deltion 28 (1973) Athens 1975:192-197; Arne. Furumark, The Mycenaean Pottery: Analysis and Classification. (Stockholm:Victor Pettersons Bokindustriaktiebolag 1941); A.D. Lacy, Greek Pottery in the Bronze Age . (London: Methuen and Co. Ltd. 1967).

(3) The Mycenaean Pottery: Analysis and Classification. (Stockholm:Victor Pettersons Bokindustriaktiebolag 1941); A.D. Lacy, Greek Pottery in the Bronze Age. (London: Methuen and Co. Ltd. 1967).