Red-Polished Ware Jug

Large in scale and elaborately ornamented, the shoulder of this Red Polished Ware jug carries a group of figures arranged in a vignette, perhaps depicting a scene of ancient life on the island. On top of the rounded body of this jug, a man sits on a stool with a wide basin at his side and a small jug between his feet. To the right are a pair of fallow deer—a spotted stag and a doe—that were native to the island. This scene likely relates to actual life in Cypriot communities. Other similar vessels also show scenes of people engaged in every-day activities, such as bread making and herding animals (see for example the Bowl with Scenes of Daily Life). The presence of the basin and the small jug between the man’s legs suggest that he may be preparing to milk the doe or to collect the animals’ blood as a sacrifice—a practice well known in the context of ancient Mediterranean religions. The placement of the miniature jug at his feet, which replicates the form of the full-sized vessel it decorates, suggests that this shape was employed for a similar activity.

Early Bronze Age Cyprus (about 2400-1600 B.C.), defined by the local Philia culture that originated in Anatolia (present-day western Turkey), saw the introduction of novel technologies and agricultural production, burial practices, and pottery styles. Globular jugs with cutaway or “beak” spouts first became common in Cyprus in this period, perhaps as a result of interaction between inhabitants of Cyprus and people from mainland Anatolia, where such vessels were already traditional by that time. The ubiquitous Red Polished Ware, handmade from mineral-rich clay and named for its ruddy color and lustrous surface, was a hallmark of the local craft tradition. Vessels with modeled figural attachments have been found primarily in tombs. This jug may similarly have been a burial object, and the liquid it held may have been used in funerary rituals.