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Unknown Maker, Greek

Pitcher (Olpe)

Maker

Unknown Maker, Greek

Culture

Greek

Title

Pitcher (Olpe)

Period

Late Geometric

Year

ca. 720-700 BCE

Medium

  • terracotta

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • terracotta

Materials

clay

Geography

Place Made: Attica

Dimensions

Height: 54.3 cm (21 3/8 inches) (including handle)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

15.006

Type

  • Ceramics

Publications

  • Books

Classical Vases, Excluding Attic Black-Figure, Attic Red-Figure and Attic White Ground

Exhibition History

Ancient Greek and Roman Galleries
Sep 22, 2010

Label copy

In the 8th century BCE, human and animal figures began to appear along with the usual bands of geometric patterns on Athenian pots. The preparation for burial was a favorite subject, as shown in the panel on the neck of this pitcher, in which six women take part in a funerary procession. At the vessel’s shoulder is a frieze of six horses grazing while a bird watches. Large ceramic vases such as this, some as high as five feet and often decorated with funerary representations, functioned as grave markers during the Geometric period. By the 6th century BCE, stone sculptures increasingly replaced large ceramic vessels as funerary monuments.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Greek
Pitcher (Olpe), ca. 720-700 BCE
Terracotta
Height: 54.3 cm (21 3/8 inches) (including handle)
Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke 15.006

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Feedback

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