Unknown Maker, Italo-Greek

Utilitarian objects showed their makers’ careful observation of the natural world around them. Images of plants and animals abound on coins and household vessels.

—GB

Boars have been found all over the Greco-Roman world since ancient times, and boar hunting was firmly entered into Greek and Roman mythology as a way of emphasizing masculinity. Herakles’s fourth labor was to capture the Erymanthian Boar, and soldiers occasionally carried depictions of boars or tusks on their helmets. This small vessel is shaped like a boar with pronounced tusks, and features a spout hole near the handle to pour out the contents. Due to their small size, oil containers (askoi) probably contained precious liquids like oil or perfume.

Askoi (singular askos) are perfume jars made in many shapes, but almost always small in size, as the scented oils they held could be costly. The RISD askos is one of twelve known in the shape of a wild boar. Among the twelve, those whose place of excavation is sure were found in graves in Italy.

This perfume jar strengthens RISD's solid collection of vessels from the Greek colonies in Southern Italy, while also enriching our small group of sculpted vases. The latter bridge the gap between sculpture and vessel forms, illustrating the often close collaborations between vase makers and sculptors working in terra cotta during ancient Greek and Roman times.