Oinochoe (pitcher)

Place of OriginGreece, Cyprus

Date700-600 BCE

Dimensions13 × 10 1/2 × 10 3/8 × 4 3/8 in. (33 × 26.7 × 26.4 × 11.1 cm)
Neck: 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)

MediumSlip-decorated earthenware

ClassificationCeramics

Credit LineGift of Elise Backus, Arthur F. Bissell, the Egypt Exploration Society, Edward Drummond Libbey, Florence Scott Libbey, and George S. Mills, by exchange

Object number

1992.16

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

Label TextIn addition to the heron or crane painted on the body of this vessel, there is a clever reference to another bird. The artist has painted two circles on either side of the spout, transforming it into the beak of a second bird. Cypriot painters rejected Geometric style decoration (also displayed in this case) in favor of depicting singular subjects in a narrative. In this case, a bird flying across the open sky with a sun disk to its right reaches for an insect (symbolized by a swastika) with its long beak. At the same time a hunter’s arrow plunges deep between the bird’s wings. In a twist of fate, the bird is simultaneously hunting and being hunted.Comparative ReferencesSee also Spiteris, T., The Art of Cyprus, New York.

cf. Devambez, P. (ed.), The Praeger Encyclopedia of Greek Civilization, New York, 1967, p. 41.