Ring-shaped vessel

A characteristic example of a small and rather rare class of Cypro-Geometric pottery: the ring-shaped vase of the "White-Painted Ware". The motifs, painted in black and brownish black, are arranged in strictly symmetrical manner on the buff slip coating the surface. Ring-shaped vases bring to mind the lentoid flasks with small hole through the middle of the body, which are encountered in the pottery repertoire of Cyprus from the 13th c. BC onwards. Some researchers consider these as original Cypriot creations, while others maintain that they were imports or imitations of Eastern models, on the basis of similar examples of the 12th-11th c. BC from ancient Megiddo in the Levant. It is still uncertain whether these vases were intended for domestic use or for religious rituals.