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Lidded Storage Jar (Pithos) with Swans

Lidded Storage Jar (Pithos) with Swans

Unknown

This pot is unusual for its monumental size and for the motif of a warrior between horses, derived from Attic models, which does not occur on other Boeotian storage jars. On the panels is a similar scene on both sides: a warrior, wearing a helmet, sword, and sheath at waist, stands between two horses facing him. Under each of these large horses is a small horse facing right. The one on the right in each scene appears to be nursing. Above the large horses are two goats, both with heads turned back. As typical in early Boeotian painting, horses have extended muzzles, thin legs, heavy hooves, and thick, tasseled tails.
Artist
Unknown (Italian, Etruscan)
Title
Lidded Storage Jar (Pithos) with Swans
Date
ca. 625 B.C.E.
Medium
Earthenware and paint
Dimensions
22 1/2 x 13 1/4 in. overall
Credit
Harold F. Bishop Fund and Endowment Fund purchase
Accession No.
1978.34
Classification
Ceramics
Geography
Italy

Related

Due to similar stylistic examples, provenience is possibly Caere (modern Ceveteri). Unknown date, purchased "on the art market" by Bruce and Ingrid McAlpine Ancient Art (London, England); 26 June 1978, sold by Bruce and Ingrid McAlpine Ancient Art (London, England) to the Elvehjem Art Center [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Ancient Etruscan and Greek Vases in the Elvehjem Museum of Art." University of Wisconsin Regents. Madison, Wis., 2000. p. 31, no. 9
  • University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. "The Classical World: Aegean Art." Art History Image Search, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Online. Mar 7, 2003. <http://facstaff.uww.edu/henigec/imagesearch/index.htm>;
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "Bulletin 1981-1983." Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1983. p. 29, no. 1
  • Del Chiaro, Mario. "An Early Etruscan Red Impasto Vase." Elvehjem Bulletin 1981-1983. Elvehjem Museum of Art (1983): 29-31. pp. 29-31
  • Overby, Osmund, ed. "Illustrated Museum Handbook: A Guide to the Collections in the Museum of Art and Archeology." Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1982. p. 38
  • Robert L. Gordon, Jr., "Evidence for an Etruscan Workshop," Muse Museum of Art and Archeology, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1971. pp. 35-42

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