Storage Jar (Stamnos) with Handles

Place of OriginCyprus, excavated by 1873

Date7th century BCE

Dimensions14 7/8 × 10 1/8 × 5 1/2 in. (37.8 × 25.7 × 14 cm)

MediumWheel-thrown, slip decorated earthenware with applied handles.

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1916.79

Not on View

DescriptionThis intact stamnos has a round body, two applied handles, and a flaring rim. It is made of wheel-thrown earthenware and finished with slip decoration. The vessel has large chips in the foot and a small chip in the rim, along with a small, round, drill-like hole near the base, possibly from an ancient repair.

Label TextThis seventh-century BCE storage jar, or stamnos, was crafted in ancient Cyprus. The jar's body was shaped on a potter’s wheel and finished with a decorative slip coating. Its shape and finish suggest its use for storing liquids or grains. The vessel was excavated by Luigi Palma di Cesnola, an Italian-American diplomat and amateur archaeologist whose finds became foundational to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Cypriot collection. It entered the Toledo Museum’s holdings in 1916, part of a selection (1916.79-1916.165) of duplicates from the Cesnola Collection chosen by Gisela Richter, a pioneering woman curator.Comparative ReferencesSee also Gjerstad, Einar, The Swedish Cyprus Expedition, Stockholm, 1948, vol. IV, part 2, fig. XIV, no. 3.