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2006.37.T, Corinthian aryballos |
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This vase shape is called an aryballos (plural aryballoi). Aryballoi functioned as oil jars, which seem to have been used primarily for bathing by athletes in the gymnasion or palaestra. Because of its design, this type of vase could conveniently be carried on the wrist using a string looped through the small handle (1). The athletes would cover themselves in oil before training; then, when the session was over, they would use a metal instrument called a strigil to scrape away the dirt and excess oil from their bodies. It is interesting to note that to most ancient Greeks, not just athletes, this was the common method of bathing.
This particular vase is 4.2 in (10.7 cm) tall and 4 in (10 cm) in diameter at its widest point (2). It is crafted in the Corinthian style. Aryballoi from this area, where in fact the vase shape originated (3), tend to be rather spherical or globular, as this one demonstrates. Some aryballoi, however, are of a more ovoid or pointed version (4), and some even are molded into figural shapes. This aryballos most likely dates to approximately 600-550 BCE for several reasons. First, earlier vases tend to be more carefully painted (5); because this vessel's decoration appears to have been done relatively hastily, it is likely that it was made in the later Corinthian period. Another sign that the vase falls within this date range is the composition of its decoration. Earlier Corinthian-style vases often are adorned with one large figure, while animal friezes and a large amount of small filler ornaments were favored in later decoration (6).
Corinthian style vases are characterized by their very fine yellowish or beige-colored clay as well as their "Orientalizing" decorative themes, which are derived from Near Eastern artistic motifs. Most typical of Orientalizing vases are floral decoration and especially horizontal registers containing animal friezes. The animal frieze on this vase includes (from left to right) a griffin , a duck, and what is probably a male siren . The griffin and siren are arranged somewhat heraldically in this frieze, as is typical in Near Eastern representations of animals (7).
Also typical of Corinthian vase decoration are filler ornaments called rosettes --this vase has a large rosette below the handle, as well as several small rosettes surrounding the animals. Although the decoration on this aryballos is predominantly black, Corinthian vase painters often made use of a variety of colors (8), such as purple and red.
Author: Jessika Akmenkalns
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, pp. 192-197.
(1) Clark , A.J., M. Elston, and M.L. Hart 2002. Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques. Los Angeles : J. Paul Getty Museum, 69.
(2) Tzavella-Evjen, H. 1975. "Greek and Roman Vases and Statuettes from the University of Colorado Collection." .., 194.
(3) Clark, Elston, and Hart 2002, 69.
(4) Biers, W.R. 1996. The Archaeology of Greece . Ithaca , NY : Cornell University Press, 145.
(5) Humfrey Payne, Necrocorinthia: A Study of Corinthian Art in the Archaic Period (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1930): 44-46.
(7) Rasmussen, T. 1991. "Greek vases in Etruria ." In Looking at Greek Vases edited by T. Rasmussen and N. Spivey . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 72.
(8) Clark, Elston, and Hart 2002, 82.
Comparanda:
Maria L. Bernhard, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Pologne , Fasc. 5 Varsovie--Musée National (Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawn 1960): pl. 32 (1, 3, 4).
Humfry Payne, Necrocorinthia: A Study of Corinthian Art in the Archaic Period (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1931): 321.
Percy N. Ure and Annie D. Ure, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Great Britain , Fasc. 12 University of Reading (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1954): pl. 5 (10b).
The Perseus Project , http://www.perseus.org/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0043&query=Tampa%2085.12
The Perseus Project , http://www.perseus.org/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0043&query=Philadelphia%20MS5482
