Published: April 10, 2018 • By Jeff Gingras and Debby Sneed

Catalogue Entry

Photograph of stirrup jar, tan with reddish-brown slip decoration, from side angle against neutral gray background.

This vase is one of a collection of Greek vases held by the CU Art Museum.

Gift to CU Classics Department
Transferred to CU Museum of Natural History
Transferred to CU Art Museum (2006)

Height: 9.8 cm
Diameter (max.): 13.3 cm
Date: 14th century B.C.E.
Origin: Greece

Description: Squat jar with large, round body and shallow convex top. Narrow neck protrudes vertically from top of vessel body, ending in narrow, rounded mouth. In center of top, immediately behind neck, is an upright post to which two handles are attached. Tan clay with red slip decoration. Body decorated with four thick, red bands that create four clay-colored registers, beginning with base; two of these clay-colored registers filled with narrow red bands. Shoulder or top of vase decorated with groups of v-patterns. Base of neck ringed with red slip. Handles painted red. Top of central post painted in bulls-eye pattern. 

Additional photos of this vessel show details of its base, top, neck, and decorations.

Discussion

This squat stirrup jar dates to the Late Helladic IIIA:2 period, approximately 1,374-1,300 B.C.E. (1). The jar is made from a pinkish-buff clay and is decorated with a reddish-brown slip. Photograph of stirrup jar, tan with reddish-brown slip decoration, from high angle against neutral gray background.

The stirrup jar shape functioned as a container for the transport or storage of wine and/or oil. It was often used as a burial offering and is frequently found in tombs (2). The stirrup jar developed in the Middle Minoan Period (c. 2,000-1,650 B.C.E.) on Crete, possibly at the site of Gournia. It became a popular shape in the Late Helladic IIIA period (c. 1,400- ,100 B.C.E.) and lasted until the Iron Age (after c. 1,100 B.C.E.) (3). 

Comparanda

  • Furumark, The Mycenaean Pottery, p. 30, Fig. 5; p. 383, Fig. 67; p. 385, motif 59.

Footnotes

  1. Chara Tzavella-Evjen, Greek and Roman Vases and Statuettes from the University of Colorado Collection (Athens: Archaiologikon Deltion, 1973): 192-197; Arne Furumark, The Mycenaean Pottery: Analysis and Classification (Stockholm: Victor Pettersons Bokindustriaktiebolag, 1941).
  2. P.A. Mountjoy, Mycenaean Pottery: An Introduction. (Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 1993): 71.
  3. A. D. Lacy, Greek Pottery in the Bronze Age (London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1967): 202; Furumark, The Mycenaean Pottery.

Reference

  • Chara Tzavella-Evjen, Greek and Roman Vases and Statuettes from the University of Colorado Collection (Athens: Archaiologikon Deltion, 1973): 192-197. 
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