Cleveland Museum of Art

Frog-Shaped Guttus (Oil Flask)

Date

300s BCE

Medium

ceramic

Culture

South Italian, Apulian

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Guttus is a Latin word referring to a small vessel with vertical spout and ring handle, probably used for pouring small amounts of precious liquids. Often, mold-made ceramic gutti take the form of animals, with realistic painted decoration. Here, the lifelike frog features black stripes and alternating black and white circles. The philosopher Plato famously compared the Greeks living along Mediterranean coastlines to “frogs around a pond.”

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.