Cleveland Museum of Art

Black-Figure Neck-Amphora (Storage Vessel): Animal Friezes

St. Louis Painter

Date

c. 600–580 BCE

Medium

ceramic

Culture

Etruscan (Etrusco-Corinthian)

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Although seemingly simple in design, this amphora populated with animals (some mythological) and vegetal ornaments speaks to complex cultural intermingling in the ancient world. Known as “Etrusco-Corinthian,” the vase was made in Vulci, an Etruscan site with local workshops influenced by the Greek pottery imported there. These imports, especially from the ancient city of Corinth, helped to bring certain motifs and creatures borrowed from the Near East—such as the griffins here—to the Italian peninsula. Among several lively Etruscan elements on this vase are flowering rosettes, including one about to be eaten by a stag foraging in the upper band. The same potter and painter (whether one person or two) also made vases now in Saint Louis and Paris.

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