Art Institute of Chicago

Jug in the Shape of a Barrel

Cypriot

Date

750-550 BCE

Medium

terracotta, bichrome

Culture

Cyprus

Department

Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Cyprus was an important center for trade and commerce throughout antiquity. By the Late Bronze Age (about 1600–1050BC), the island was producing large quantities of copper, which lured adventurous seafaring merchants to its shores in the hope of exchanging their cargo for the prized metal. Imported goods and migrant artists profoundly influenced Cypriot potters and painters, who began to create and decorate their wares differently. New products served the Cypriots’ domestic and ritual needs or made their way on outbound ships to distant lands, where they in turn inspired local artists. A container for liquids, this vase features an elliptical body with a nipple at both ends and a vertical handle rising from the shoulder to the neck. It is decorated in bichrome (two-color) technique against a light background. The body is encircled with vertical rings of black and broad bands of reddish brown. The middle of the body features a band of concentric circles.

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