Getty Museum

Aryballos in the Shape of a Pomegranate

Date

600–575 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Greek (Corinthian)

Department

Vessels

Institution

Getty Museum

Embellished with black-figure decoration, this aryballos (oil container) reproduces the slightly lobe-shaped body of a pomegranate. While the bottom half of the vessel is covered with plain white pigment, the neck and shoulder are decorated with a pattern of red and brown tongues above three bands of blue, red, and white dots separated by incised lines. Plastic vases—vessels made in the form of a human, animal, or mythological being (or in this case a fruit)—were especially popular in the Greek world from about 650 to 550 B.C. The main production centers were Rhodes off the coast of Asia Minor (present-day western Turkey) and Corinth on the Greek mainland, but these types of vases were widely distributed and imitated by other cities. They typically held perfumed oil, and the vessels' narrow openings were designed to conserve this precious commodity. Many pomegranate-shaped vases have been found in graves. The pomegranate, with its many seeds and blood-red juice, was a symbol of life and fertility for the Greeks. Closely connected with Persephone, the goddess of the Underworld, they were considered appropriate gifts for the dead, perhaps signifying a new life for the deceased.

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