Trefoil-mouthed oinochoe

This oinochoe (wine jug) from Cyprus, an example of "Black on Red Ware", is decorated with a large free-standing aquatic bird in the so-called "Free Field Style". Figured decoration in Cypriot vase-painting first appeared in the Bronze Age, and continued to occur sporadically in the Cypro-Geometric period (1050-750 BC). The pictorial style flourished in the Cypro-Archaic period (750-480 BC), when it became predominant in vase-painting. The "Free Field Style" developed as a distinctive pictorial style in the eastern part of the island. In this style geometric motifs are rare and the painter presents a single pictorial motif or composition on the body of the vase, freely executed. The preferred vase shape was the trefoil-mouth oinochoe, while the most popular subjects are human figures, animals, birds (often with a fish in the beak), schematic flowers as well as various combinations of these. Vases in the "Free Field Style" were usually decorated in "White-Painted" or "Bichrome" technique. The illustrated oinochoe is in "Black on Red Ware" and is, therefore, a rare example of the style.