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Jug with Orientalizing motifs

UnknownCypro-Archaic I, 750–600 BCE

Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Berlin, Germany

Bichrome Ware pottery, named for its two-tone decoration in red and black, was one of the most popular Cypriot ceramic types of the Iron Age. Eastern Cyprus in particular saw the development of the “free-field” technique in which painted designs roam freely over the surface of the vessel, painted in loose, casual brushstrokes. Vessels decorated in this style often appeal to modern viewers because of their light-hearted, even playful appearance. This jug with a trefoil mouth stands out for its high quality and the precision of the painting. Two large goats occupy most of the oval body of the vase, standing heraldically on their back legs and nibbling on a large stylised floral ornament. The artist took care to place the animals symmetrically to either side of the central motif, and embellished their bodies with red rosettes and a rectangle filled with small “w” shapes. [...]
The same artist almost certainly decorated two other vases, one likewise in Berlin, the other in The Metropolitan Museum in New York. Despite their different decorative motifs, all three vases are characterised by the same masterful composition and technical execution, the same realistic depiction of the animals, and the same precise rosettes decorating the animals’ bodies.

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  • Title: Jug with Orientalizing motifs
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date Created: Cypro-Archaic I, 750–600 BCE
  • Provenance: Acquired in 1869
  • Type: Vessel
  • Medium: Clay
  • Inv. no.: TC 6682,93 (= F 70)
  • ISIL no.: DE-MUS-814319
  • External Link: Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
  • Copyright: Photo © Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Johannes Laurentius. || Text © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, The Antikensammlung: Altes Museum, Neues Museum, Pergamonmuseum, A publication of the Antikensammlung of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin edited by Agnes Schwarzmaier, Andreas Scholl, and Martin Maischberger, p. 287, || Text: Sylvia Brehme, Translation: Stephanie Pearson.
  • Collection: Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Neues Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

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