Askos

This elegant askos with hammered body and cast handle (the finials in the form of a bird and an animal head) epitomizes the refinements of metalworking in Late Hellenistic and Roman times. Askoi occur in Greece and other regions of the Eastern Mediterranean already from the second millennium BC as clay utilitarian vessels for wine, water, aromatic oils and other liquids, frequently taking the form of a bird or an animal. Metal examples were rather rare, however, until the Hellenistic period, when the wide availability of metals facilitated the copying of even the simplest vase shapes in bronze, silver and occasionally gold. Metal vases were used as table vessels by the wealthier members of society. Bronze askoi became very popular in the late Hellenistic period in South Italy, particularly the region of Campania, which is the possible provenance of this example. This particular type is known from various places around the Mediterranean and is dated to the Roman period, specifically the 1st c. AD.