Getty Museum

Olpe

Date

630–600 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Etruscan

Department

Vessels

Institution

Getty Museum

A standard olpe is decorated with two continuous animal friezes around the shoulder and belly. In the upper register is a pair of grazing goats heraldically disposed, and a goose moving to the left. Below, a third grazing goat is flanked by two panthers with frontal heads; a goose appears between the panthers' tails. There are numerous dot-rosettes in the field. Over sixty such olpai have been attributed to the Bearded Sphinx Painter, whose early work was apparently made in a workshop at Vulci. It is characterized by the use of dot-rosettes in the animal friezes. Later in his career, this major Etrusco-Corinthian artist appears to have been active at Cerveteri.

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