GREECE - Museum of Art and Archaeology · GREECE "Frying Pan" Greece, Cycladic Islands, Syros (?),...

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GREECE Goulandris Master Head from a Standing Figure Greece, Cycladic Islands, Early Cycladic II, ca. 2500-2400 BCE Marble 76.214 Museum Purchase Published: Handbook, no. 42 Missouri Master Three Figures and Beaker Greece, Cycladic Islands, Early Cycladic I, ca. 3000-2800 BCE Marble 64.67.1-4 Museum Purchase Characteristic of Cycladic culture are sculptures in white marble. Four main types were produced: males, females, musicians, and schematic human forms, often called "violin" figures. The three small figures are examples of this last category. Said to come from a single grave with the beaker, they were carved by an artist whose name, the Missouri Master, is a conventional one assigned by scholars and derived from the present location of this group. The head comes from a large, reclining, female figure--a canonical sculpture with folded arms and feet pointed downward. There are traces of red paint on the face, especially on the forehead, a reminder that these Cycladic sculptures once had a more colorful appearance. Blue paint was also used, especially for locks of hair down the back. The Missouri head was carved by a sculptor whose work has been recognized in a number of other sculptures. His name, a conventional one, was assigned from the location of two complete figures in a private Greek collection, the Goulandris Collection. Cycladic sculptures appeal to modern taste, but their importance and function in the 3rd millennium BCE can only be the subject of speculation, since we lack written records. Furthermore, the archaeological record is inadequate, because so many of the sculptures come from illicit excavations. Scholars suggest, however, that these figures may have been carved to represent deities or heroes. Alternatively, they were carved as grave-offerings to act as servants for the dead, or were placed in graves as images of ancestors. Whatever their MAA 06/12 Docent Manual Volume 1 Greece 1

Transcript of GREECE - Museum of Art and Archaeology · GREECE "Frying Pan" Greece, Cycladic Islands, Syros (?),...

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Goulandris Master Head from a Standing Figure Greece, Cycladic Islands, Early Cycladic II, ca. 2500-2400 BCE Marble 76.214 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no. 42

Missouri Master Three Figures and Beaker Greece, Cycladic Islands, Early Cycladic I, ca. 3000-2800 BCE Marble 64.67.1-4 Museum Purchase

Characteristic of Cycladic culture are sculptures in white marble. Four main types were produced: males, females, musicians, and schematic human forms, often called "violin" figures. The three small figures are examples of this last category. Said to come from a single grave with the beaker, they were carved by an artist whose name, the Missouri Master, is a conventional one assigned by scholars and derived from the present location of this group.

The head comes from a large, reclining, female figure--a canonical sculpture with folded arms and feet pointed downward. There are traces of red paint on the face, especially on the forehead, a reminder that these Cycladic sculptures once had a more colorful appearance. Blue paint was also used, especially for locks of hair down the back. The Missouri head was carved by a sculptor whose work has been recognized in a number of other sculptures. His name, a conventional one, was assigned from the location of two complete figures in a private Greek collection, the Goulandris Collection.

Cycladic sculptures appeal to modern taste, but their importance and function in the 3rd millennium BCE can only be the subject of speculation, since we lack written records. Furthermore, the archaeological record is inadequate, because so many of the sculptures come from illicit excavations. Scholars suggest, however, that these figures may have been carved to represent deities or heroes. Alternatively, they were carved as grave-offerings to act as servants for the dead, or were placed in graves as images of ancestors. Whatever their

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function, they were prized outside the region, since some have been found in mainland Greece and on Crete, where they were mainly placed in graves. (MAA 7/99)

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"Frying Pan" Greece, Cycladic Islands, Syros (?), Early Cycladic II, ca. 2700-2400/2300 BCE Pottery 62.31 Alumni Achievement Fund

These enigmatic objects were first found in the Cycladic Islands in the late 19th century. About two hundred are known to exist. Most are made of terracotta, but there are three stone ones, and two in bronze were found in Anatolia. Terracotta ones have also been found in mainland Greece.

The shape takes the form of a shallow pan, hence the conventional name, often with forked handles. Most of these vessels are decorated on the bottom with incised and impressed patterns, usually filled with a white chalky substance. Sometimes the decoration is carried onto the outer surface of the sides and onto the handle. On the ones with forked handles, female genitalia are incised. The decoration on the bottom is often elaborate. Several have ships and fish represented. Spirals, star patterns, and concentric circles are common designs.

Their function is disputed. They are called frying pans because of their shape, but decorated ones would not have been used in this way, and even the undecorated ones show no signs of burning. They are not exclusively funerary, because some have been found in settlements. When found in graves, which were generally wealthy ones, they were often placed near the head of the dead and usually with other objects. Since they are sometimes found in graves with marble figurines, they cannot be considered as alternative grave goods to the figurines. The presence of sides suggests, moreover, some practical function as containers. Perhaps they were plates to hold real or symbolic food for the dead.

An alternative theory suggests that they functioned as mirrors, filled with water or oil to provide a reflecting surface, or perhaps they were used as drums with hide stretched over them. Some scholars also maintain that frying pans must have had a religious significance. They base this speculation mainly on some of the decorative elements, such as the female genitalia, ships, star-patterns, and fish. The female genitalia, however, may have been included only because the forked handles resemble legs, and there is no evidence to support the theory that the other decorative elements had religious meaning for the Bronze Age people of the Cyclades. (MAA 7/99)

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Cylindrical, Lidded Pyxis (Toilet Box) Mycenaean, Late Helladic IIIC Late, ca. 1070-1050/1030 BCE Pottery 64.69.1 A AND B Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no. 46 Elizabeth French and Penelope Mountjoy, "Some Thoughts on the Mycenaean Pottery in the Collection of the University of Missouri, Columbia," Muse 25 (1991) 42-53

Stirrup Jar, or False-necked Jug Greece, Argos, Mycenaean, Late Helladic IIIC Middle, ca. 1130-1070 BCE Pottery 70.28 Museum Purchase

Published: French, Elizabeth and Penelope Mountjoy, “Some Thoughts on the Mycenaean Pottery in the Collection of the University of Missouri, Columbia,” Muse 25 (1991) 42-53.

These two vases, one a typical jar, the other a more unusual toilet box, were made on mainland Greece during the Late Bronze Age and are characteristic Mycenaean vessels. The stirrup jar is one of the most diagnostic pottery types for the Mycenaean period. So-called because the handle resembles stirrups, it is also called false-necked because the neck of the vessel functions as a handle, and is solid rather than open as a neck should be. The vase is decorated with beautifully drawn scale-filled triangles, semicircles, and zones of zigzag. This type of decoration is called Close Style, from the netlike decoration covering most of the surface of the vase.

Holes in the pyxis and its lid show that it was made to be suspended as it is displayed. Two pairs of holes in the base and a single hole in the center of the lid allow the box to be opened by sliding the lid up on the string. Cosmetics, jewelry, and perhaps food could thus be safely kept out of reach of children. Similarly decorated vases come from excavated tombs in a cemetery in Attica, suggesting the origin of the box.

The good condition of both these vessels indicates that they come from tombs. Possibly

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scented unguents and food for use by the dead were contained in them. (MAA 7/99)

Seal Stone with Bull Leaping Scene in Intaglio Greece, Arcadia, Phigalia, Mycenaean, Late Helladic IIIB, ca. 1410-1380 BCE Agate 57.8 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no.45 John G. Younger, "A New Look at Aegean Bull-leaping," Muse 17 (1983) 72-80

The sport of bull-leaping on Crete probably dates back to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE, but most representations of the sport belong to the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1575-1050 BCE). From frescoes, gems, bronze figurines, repoussé gold cups, vases, and stone and stucco relief sculpture, the sport is now fairly well understood. Bulls were captured in the wild and tamed for training the leapers who participated in festivals at which the bull leaping was a principal event. Young men and women formed teams of leapers and their assistants, who either held the bull or steadied the leapers as they landed.

The seal stone depicts in intaglio a maneuver which may have been part of training for the leapers. A bull walks left (as seen in the impression) while in front of him stands a man holding the bull by the head. A nude male leaper is shown in the act of vaulting sideways over the bull's back. He supports himself with one hand on the bull's back, while with the other he grasps one of the horns. The scholar who published this gem conjectures that this maneuver was part of training, to give the leaper confidence before learning to execute the more difficult vault in which a leaper executed a handspring onto the bull's back and then off to land behind it.

Sealstones like this one were used to seal jars and packages or to mark clay tablets. They were worn as jewelry around the wrist. (MAA 7/99)

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Diadem, or Necklace Greece, Mycenaean, 14th c. BCE Glass 66.344 Museum Purchase

The beads for this glass diadem or necklace were cast in open molds in which the design had been carved in intaglio, producing relief decoration. Thousands of objects like these, found at Late Bronze Age sites in Greece, attest to the popularity of glass as a medium for jewelry. Indeed, for many centuries after its initial discovery, glass in the ancient world was considered a precious material. Probably first produced in Mesopotamia as early as the 3rd millennium BCE, it was initially only used for ornaments–beads, pendants, inlay, etc.,–which continued to be made after the manufacture of vessels began in the late 16th or early 15th century BCE

Mycenaean glass beads or appliqués were made from ingots of raw glass imported from Egypt, or from the same source, possibly in the Syro-Palestinian region, from which Egypt obtained its raw material; analysis has shown that the composition of Egyptian glass in this period is the same as Greek mainland glass. When new, these beads were translucent and bright blue, resembling lapis lazuli, although some green, opaque turquoise blue, or aquamarine ornaments are also known. More than twenty different motifs occur, among them rosettes, palmettes, ivy-leaves, and scallop shells. Some resemble curls of hair and reflect one of the uses of these beads as the components of diadems. Excavations in Olympia revealed this use. In one grave, beads were still lying on the skull and in two others were found scattered near the skull. The museum's set of forty-three beads are perhaps from a diadem, since the design is in the form of two stylized curls, one above the other. As well as forming diadems, these ornaments were strung together as necklaces, or hair adornments, or were sewn to cloth, or leather. (MAA 7/99)

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Dress Pin Greece, Submycenaean to Protogeometric period, 1075-900 BCE Bronze 59.44 Museum Purchase

Plate Fibula Greece, Thessaly, Late Geometric period, 725-700 BCE Bronze 82.425 Weinberg Fund

Spectacle Fibula (Brooch) Northern Greece, Late Geometric period, ca. 700 BCE Bronze 61.29 Museum Purchase

The dress pin has a long shaft which is round in section, a flat disc head, and a spherical globe, made separately from the shaft. Long pins like these occur in pairs in graves of women, one on each shoulder of the skeleton. They were used to fasten the woolen peplos, or tunic, at the shoulders. In men's graves, although occurring less frequently than in women's, single ones are found, fastening the cloak on one shoulder. The long straight pin continued in use, in substantially unchanged form, from the Submycenaean period through the Protogeometric. Iron pins are also known from this period and seem to have been more common than bronze.

The plate fibula and spectacle fibula are also dress fasteners. Plate fibulae, worn in matching pairs at the shoulders, are a new type of pin, appearing shortly after the middle of the 9th century BCE They seem to have been worn vertically with the plate at the top, as indicated by the direction of the designs. The horse, also found on this example, is a common decorative design. Spectacle fibulae, mostly worn singly as cloak fasteners, originated in central Europe before 1000 BCE, entering Greece from the north as early as the 9th century. From Macedonia, in northern Greece, such fibulae spread to southern Greece, primarily through dedications in sanctuaries.

Straight pins as dress fasteners continued in use into later periods. By the 5th century

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BCE, however, pins as clothing fasteners became uncommon, although they continued in use as jewelry, particularly for the hair. (MAA 7/99)

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Small Krater Greece, Euboea, Protogeometric period, ca. 950-900 BCE Pottery 90.109 Gilbreath McLorn Museum Fund and gift of Museum Associates

This small deep-bodied krater, or bowl, was probably used to hold food as well as drink. The monochrome slip on the interior is completely worn away, suggesting extensive use. Although purchased on the art market and thus without provenience, because it is unbroken, it probably came from a grave. One may imagine that it was used for the graveside funerary meal and then placed in the grave with the deceased. Similar vases have been excavated at Lefkandi, a site on the island of Euboea; these have suggested a date and possible provenance for the Missouri bowl.

The main decoration on the bowl consists of four sets of ten, pendant, concentric semicircles made with a compass and multiple brush. (The compass holes are visible.) This decorative zone is framed between solid bands which divide the pot into its component parts. The shape and decoration are typical of the Protogeometric style, generally agreed to have originated in Athens, where it is dated ca. 1050-900 BCE Local Protogeometric styles developed outside Attica in other parts of Greece in the second half of the 10th c. BCE, perhaps influenced by Attic vases.

Protogeometric is the term given to the intermediate period between the Mycenaean and Submycenaean of the Late Bronze Age and the Geometric of the 9th and 8th centuries. The style has a separate entity and should not be viewed simply as a transitional stage. Pottery of this period is important because it provides almost our only evidence for artistic development in the Dark Age. Influences from Mycenaean are evident. For example, the use of a predominantly light-ground effect in which the designs are painted on the clay body, or a dark ground effect in which the vase is mainly dark with the decoration painted in reserved bands. (This is the system adopted by Geometric vase-painters.) The ornamentation is also derived from Mycenaean. Typical are sets of concentric circles or semicircles, crosshatched triangles, lozenges, and panels, but, in contrast to the freehand spirals and arcs of Mycenaean decoration, the Protogeometric vase-painter used a compass and multiple brush. Although many Protogeometric vase-shapes are also derived from Mycenaean ones, the contours are tauter, perhaps because of the introduction of a faster potter's wheel.

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Bowls like the museum's krater are the precursors of a typical Greek Geometric pottery type, the small skyphos. This bowl thus stands as a link between the earlier Mycenaean culture and the Geometric period that followed.

Complete Protogeometric vases are rare. There are few in American museums and, to our knowledge, none in other midwest collections. (MAA 7/99)

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Neck-handled Amphora Athens, Middle Geometric I, 850-800 BCE Pottery 91.255 Gilbreath McLorn Museum Fund

Neck-handled Amphora Athens, Late Geometric IIb, 720-700 BCE Pottery 58.3 Museum Purchase

The earlier amphora is an excellent example of Middle Geometric pottery style. It is mainly dark, with a decorative panel on the neck and around the belly, a scheme developed in the Early Geometric period, ca. 900-850 BCE, but the triple reserved bands breaking up the large areas of dark ground on the body are a Middle Geometric feature. In the Middle Geometric period, different decorative motifs were introduced. One of these, a band of solid double axes between groups of vertical lines, decorates the belly and lip of this amphora, although the vase is unusual in having small dots above and below the double axes in the band around the belly. The shape exhibits firmer articulation between neck and body than found in Early Geometric vases, brought about by the use of an improved potter's wheel in this period.

The later neck-handled amphora is an example of Late Geometric art. Like the Middle Geometric one, it has an ovoid body, cylindrical neck, and handles from shoulder to neck. Unlike the earlier vase, its bands of decoration cover the vase from base to rim, where a snake is modelled. In the main figural zone, a frieze of charioteers moves to the right, while beneath one handle stands a warrior wearing a Dipylon body shield and carrying two spears. Above and below are friezes of running dogs. The neck carries a second main figural zone. Here, on front and back, five male figures carrying swords form a file to the right.

Neck-handled amphorae were used to hold a man's cremated ashes. The snake around the rim of the Late Geometric vase evokes this funerary use, since the snake is a symbol of the underworld. A chariot frieze is a standard decorative element on vases made for funerary use, but whether the scene represents a procession to the cemetery or to the battlefield is not certain. The small standing figure, however, suggests that the procession was intended to

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evoke the heroic past. The Dipylon shield is described by Homer and is probably a memory from epic of the preceding Bronze Age. The figure may thus be meant to represent a heroic ancestor of the deceased.

The swordsmen on the neck are highly unusual. Possibly dancing, they perhaps represent early armored dances like those held in the Archaic and Classical periods. The running dogs, a popular motif on Attic Geometric funerary pottery, probably had a symbolic meaning, perhaps as a reminder of heroism and valor in the hunt, or even as a symbol of aristocratic class. In the Odyssey dogs are aristocratic symbols. (MAA 7/99)

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Tray with Relief Decoration Greece, Crete, Late Geometric period, ca. 750 BCE Pottery 73.212 Museum Purchase Published: Handbook, no. 48

N. Reed, "A Daedalic Sampler," Muse 15 (1981) 60-62

A winged goddess holds two goats on the tray. She symbolizes control over nature and is a revival of the Bronze Age Potnia Theron or "Mistress of Animals." The same motif is found in Near Eastern cultures and occurs on many artifacts imported into Greece from that region in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE The interest in the motif in Greece at this time may be due to influence from these foreign works.

The goddess wears a rectangular skirt with central decorative pattern, a shawl-like outer garment, and tall polos (a round hatlike headdress). These are standard garments for depictions of goddesses on Crete in this period. Mainland Greece at this time rarely depicted deities. In Cretan art, the Potnia Theron is depicted from the 9th century until the early 7th century BCE, but not later. She may be the goddess Artemis, protector of nature. (MAA 7/99)

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Horse and Bull Greece, Olympia (?), Late Geometric Period, 750-700 BCE Bronze 86.59, 60 Gift of Marie Farnsworth Published: S. Langdon, "In the Pasture of the Gods," Muse 21 (1987) 55-

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Votive Figure of a Man Crete, Late Geometric period, ca. 700 BCE Bronze 69.950 Gift of Mr. J. Lionberger Davis Published: S. Langdon, "A Votive Figurine from Early Crete," Muse 25 (1991)

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In the Geometric period (10th-8th centuries BCE) the Greeks produced thousands of small bronze and terracotta figures of animals and humans. Many of them were made near the great sanctuaries and were given to the gods as votive offerings. The two animals and the small Cretan figure of a man are typical of these small sculptures, which were cast by lost-wax technique. In this technique, the figures were first modelled in beeswax, then covered with clay to make a mold. After drying, the model was heated to melt out the wax, and molten bronze was poured into the space.

The horse shows clear traces of the process. The artist first rolled beeswax into a cylinder for the trunk, then bent it up for the neck. A short cylinder of wax formed the head, and tiny pellets were added on for eyes. The front legs were clearly made from a third cylinder which was draped over the back and flattened but not completely smoothed out. The back legs were probably made in the same way, but the surface has been worked over. The tail was also added separately, but here again junction in the parts of the wax model is not evident.

Small figures of horses and bulls were frequent dedications, perhaps as prayers to the gods for protection of the votary's herds. The horse, as an emblem of wealth and high social standing, would also be considered an offering most pleasing to the gods. The little figure of a man is the museum's only Greek three-dimensional representation of a human figure from this period. His flat cap shows him to be Cretan in origin; such caps do not appear on mainland

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bronzes. His stance, with both fists clenched to his chest, denotes a reverent salutation to the gods. He may have been offered to a deity in one of several types of Cretan sacred places--in the open air, in a cave sanctuary, or on a bench shrine. As a nude male worshipper, he reflects the change that occurred in Minoan religion in the Iron Age, a shift from the emphasis on female goddesses of the Bronze Age to a religion closer to that of mainland Greece. (MAA 7/99)

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Horse Pyxis; Workshop of Agora P 4784 Greece, Athens, Late Geometric IIa, 735-720 BCE Pottery 92.1 Gilbreath-McLorn Museum Fund

The grave of a wealthy Athenian woman in the 8th century BCE usually contained a selection of jewelry such as finger rings, bracelets, fibulae (brooches), and earrings, as well as a number of pottery vessels. Among these latter there was often an elaborate pyxis (a round, lidded box). On the lid might stand from one to four horses modelled in clay. Some graves even held more than one of these pyxides; one particularly rich grave contained eight. The museum's horse pyxis carries four horses on the lid, and the lid and base are decorated with typical Geometric patterns of checker-board alternating with hatched swastikas in a triglyph-metope pattern, concentric rings, Xs, rosettes, zigzags, and dot chain. A small hole in the center of the lid, a feature found in other horse pyxides, must have been intended for a libation to be collected in the pyxis for the deceased.

Pyxides were frequent grave offerings, but there is evidence that they were not made purely for funerary use; some have been repaired, others have lost their lids and are found without one, or with a lid from a different vessel. Some graves contained pyxides of an earlier date than the remainder of the pottery. The smaller pyxides seem to have been used in daily life as containers for unguents, or jewelry. In the grave, however, they are thought mainly to have held food or liquid offerings and, occasionally, small personal items belonging to the deceased. The horse pyxis may have served a special function in the grave as an emblem of social status, perhaps a reference to the family's wealth and rank. Owners of horses necessarily possessed sufficient land to maintain them. (MAA 7/99)

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Olpe (Jug); Painter of Vatican 73 Greece, Corinth, Proto-Corinthian, Transitional Period, ca. 640-630 BCE Pottery 60.13 Chorn Memorial Fund

Published: Handbook, no. 50 Biers, William R., “An Etruscan Face: A Mask Cup in Missouri,” Muse 13 (1979) 46-53.

The Painter of Vatican 73, one of the foremost vase-painters of the time, painted this olpe. The artist takes his name from an olpe in the Vatican Museum. The painter liked to use a variety of animals. Goats, panthers, lions, a lioness, boars, sphinxes, swans, rams, bulls, and a siren are all represented on this vase. He often used the same groupings, placed at the front of the face opposite the handle. On this vase, we find a swan between two sphinxes. The poses of the animals, and the way the anatomical details are drawn also assign this vase to his hand. The animals are alert and lively creations, and there is a richness to the vase, which makes a vivid impression on the viewer.

The olpe dates to the Transitional period between Protocorinthian and Corinthian vase-painting. Characteristic of the Transitional period are the carefully drawn dot rosettes and the detailed drawings of the animals. (MAA 7/99)

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Ovoid Aryballos Middle Protocorinthian, Linear style, ca. 650 BCE Pottery 58.28 Museum Purchase

Alabastron; Near the Dolphin Painter Greece, Corinth, Early Corinthian, ca. 600 BCE Pottery 67.48 Museum Purchase

Aryballos; Scale Painter Greece, Corinth, Middle Corinthian, 600-575 BCE Pottery 61.31 Museum Purchase

Round Aryballos; Liebighaus Group Middle Corinthian, ca. 580 BCE Pottery 57.11 Museum Purchase

These four vases, together with the olpe 60.13, illustrate an

important vase-painting style of early Greece. They are all products of Corinth, a powerful city in the 7th century, whose pottery was exported widely throughout the Mediterranean. Many of the vases are small flasks or bottles, as here, designed to hold perfumed oil. The Dolphin Painter and Scale Painter vases on exhibit are executed in the black-figure technique, which was invented by Corinth ca. 700 BCE and became the principal method of decorating vases in Athens from ca. 630 BCE onward. In this technique, the figures are silhouetted against the body of the vase, and details are made with incision and added colors (red and white). The contrasting colors of clay ground of the vase and the black slip were achieved through a three-stage firing process. In the first, or oxidizing stage, Corinthian pottery turned a dark buff color. (Attic clay turned pinkish buff.) In the second stage, oxygen was cut off, and

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the temperature raised. The pottery turned black. At this higher temperature, the slip of the design sintered. In the third stage, oxygen was readmitted and the temperature lowered. The design remained black, since it could not readmit oxygen, while the clay body of the vase reverted to a dark buff (Corinthian pottery) or red (Attic). The black design on the Liebighaus Group aryballos and the ovoid aryballos was also achieved through the firing process, but they are not in black-figure style. The Liebighaus aryballos uses an outline technique, the ovoid aryballos only silhouetted animals without incision.

The subjects depicted on Corinthian vases were primarily animals, and as time went on the animals became more carelessly painted, perhaps in an attempt to speed up production. The animals on the Scale Painter aryballos contrast with the neatly and carefully painted ones on the olpe 60.18, which is an earlier vase. Although primarily painting animals, Corinthian vase painters also produced vases with scenes of humans. The female head on the Liebighaus aryballos serves as a reminder of this other aspect of Corinthian vase painting. (MAA 7/99)

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Gold Ear Spiral Greece, Late 7th or early 6th c. BCE Gold 94.2 Gift of Museum Associates (Members' Choice)

The ear ornament, which weighs 1.4 ounces, is a length of thick gold wire twisted into an elongated spiral. The ends of the spiral are formed into discs, each of which has a surface decoration of bosses and granulation, the term used for tiny spheres of gold, and sometimes, silver, soldered to jewelry to form decorative patterns. The granulation encircles the bosses and forms vertically opposed triangles grouped in pairs. Under the microscope, it is possible to see that the central boss of each disc was once covered with granulation as well.

Although the ornament is heavy, it probably was worn suspended from the ear by a ring that passed through the earlobe, rather than being a hair ornament, as older theories suggested for such spirals. The evidence in favor of them as ear pendants comes from excavations, depictions on coins and pottery, and a terracotta figurine from Cyprus: a spiral ear pendant was found in a 5th-century BCE grave on the skull at ear level; women and goddesses depicted on coins and pottery wear spiral ear pendants; and the Cypriote terracotta figurine wears earrings that apparently represent ones formed from wire twisted into three spirals.

Spiral pendants are typical of the islands and East Greece in the 7th century BCE A number were found, for example, in 7th-century levels during excavations on the island of Chios; although the form is similar to the museum's new acquisition, the discs have no decoration. Spiral pendants also occur in mainland Greece in this period but with less frequency. (MAA 7/99)

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Relief-Amphoras Greece, Crete, Mid-7th c. BCE Pottery 73.283, 67.49 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Cedric Marks

Published: N. Reed, "A Daedalic Sampler," Muse 15 (1981) 58-59

Eals, Nancy Reed. “Relief-Amphoras of Archaic Crete,” Muse 5 (1971) 26-34

Sphinxes and griffins, exotic mythical beasts, form the principal decoration on these fragments from two different storage jars. Although both creatures had been depicted in art of the Bronze Age, their reappearance in 7th-century Cretan art is the result of renewed contacts with the Near East which began in the 8th century BCE. The specific source of inspiration appears to have been works of art imported from North Syria, or traveling craftsmen from that region.

Large amphoras with applied reliefs form perhaps the most important series of monuments from Archaic Crete. The decoration consists of stamped and geometric designs-- rosettes, spirals and bosses--and of applied relief designs of two kinds. The first were formed in molds and then applied. The second kind is strips of clay that were first applied and then modelled and impressed. The technique of making objects in molds came from the Near East.

The griffins and sphinxes on these fragments were formed in molds and then applied. The griffins are arranged in a triglyph-metope frieze. Above, the sphinxes are recumbent, whereas on the neck fragment they are arranged heraldically in pairs. This motif is the most common on amphoras of this type; the griffins and recumbent sphinxes occur only rarely.

The neck fragment is an example of cooperation between museums. The rim once belonged to the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England; the curator there realized from the Muse publication that the rim actually joined this museum's fragment. In exchange for another neck and rim fragment that this museum owned, Newcastle sent the complete rim, only part of which is now on display. (MAA 7/99)

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Stele Carved with Figure of a Warrior Crete, Prinias, 630-620 BCE Limestone 72.58 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no. 51 Reed, Nancy, “A Daedalic Sampler,” Muse 15

(1981) 58-66

The stele has carved on its front face a warrior advancing to the left and gesturing with extended right arm. He carries a spear and round shield and wears a helmet with large crest. On his legs, the warrior wears greaves. He also wears leather sandals.

The stele forms one member of a group that was found in two excavations at Prinias on Crete. The Missouri stele, although without provenance, technically and stylistically belongs with them. All are rectangular slabs, taller than wide. Carved on their front faces are warriors, as here, or women, one seated, the others standing and carrying spindle and distaff (the staff that holds the wool or flax for spinning), or holding a wreath and bird.

None of the group is carved in true relief. Instead of carving out the background, the sculptors incised the design into the surface, using simple tools--a claw chisel, a small flat chisel, and a compass. Originally interpreted as a wood-working technique, this use of incision is now thought to reflect the inspiration of metalworking. Double lines found on all the stelai echo the use of repoussJ between two chased lines found on some Cretan metalwork. These double lines on the stelai were once painted, forming a contrast with the smooth adjacent surfaces. A remarkable amount of red is still preserved on the Missouri stele. Since very little color survives on the stelai on Crete, the Missouri stele provides valuable evidence for the color scheme of the group.

The dating of the group is based on comparison with 7th-century Cretan works. The strongest parallels belong to the decade 630-20 BCE and suggest a date in that period for the group.

The function of the stelai is uncertain. No 7th-century structure, or structures, with which they can be associated has been discovered. Originally considered funerary, it seems more likely that the stelai had an architectural function as part of a single structure, possibly the gateway to a sanctuary. (MAA 7/99)

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Black-figured Lekythos; Workshop of the Gorgon Painter Greece, Athens, ca. 590-580 BCE Pottery 78.30 Museum Purchase

Black-figure Hydria (Water-jar); Ainipylos Painter Greece, Athens, ca. 550-540 BCE Pottery 72.22 Museum Purchase

A lekythos is a flask with one handle, narrow neck, and deep mouth, used for oil. It was used by athletes and women, and as a funerary offering. The Gorgon Painter Workshop lekythos is an early version of the shape with sloping shoulder and drip ring around the neck. Later lekythoi develop along other lines with a sharp shoulder angle.

This lekythos was made and decorated at a time when Attic black-figure artists were still under the influence of Corinthian vase-painting. The shape of the lekythos is derived from Corinthian vase shapes, and the siren harks back to creatures painted by Corinthian artists; the rosettes filling the background resemble those found on vases produced in Corinth. The Gorgon Painter and his Workshop were the last Attic vase-painters to show an interest in the Animal style.

The hydria fragment illustrates Attic black-figure vase-painting of just after the mid-6th century BCE The scene shows the departure of a warrior, armed with Corinthian helmet, shield, spear, and sword. On his left is a bearded man, and on his right a woman. The scene formed the central panel of a water-jar. On the shoulder are preserved a lion and a siren. The clothing and stance of the woman and the animals are inherited from Corinthian vase-painting, but the style is purely Attic. It reflects the work of Lydos, one of the masters of Attic vase-painting. The artist of the museum's fragment may be considered a companion of Lydos. Named the Ainipylos Painter from the inscription on the museum's hydria, this painter shares the grandeur of style seen in Lydos' work.

Artists of this period had not yet mastered the technique of drawing a figure in three-quarter pose. The central warrior is shown with frontal torso and head and legs in profile. (MAA 7/99)

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Vase in Form of Resting Duck East Greek, ca. 600-580 BCE Pottery 82.424 Gift of Columbia Clinic

Published: Biers, William R., "The Dozing Duck: A Rare Plastic Vase," Muse 18 (1984) 26-34.

Helmeted-head Vase Greece, Island of Rhodes, Early 6th c. BCE Pottery 79.79 Gift of the Charles Ulrick Bay and Josephine Bay Foundation

Vases in a variety of shapes, so-called `plastic vases,' served as containers for oils or perfumes. (Plastos is Greek for formed or molded.) They were widely exported from their place of manufacture. Since many were partially or wholly made in a mold, there often exist several examples of the same type. The helmeted-head vase is common, the warrior shown wearing an Ionian helmet, a type known only from these vases and other artistic representations. The helmet has a distinctive curved frontpiece over the forehead and lacks the strip over the nose of the more common Corinthian helmet. The other plastic vase is more unusual, known from only one other example. The representation of the duck may have been inspired by the Egyptian Goose, the only Old World bird of this type with a dark area surrounding the eye.

The contents of plastic vases have been the subject of pioneer work at the University of Missouri. A recent publication by William Biers, Klaus Gerhardt, and Rebecca Braniff describes investigation by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, which identifies organic compounds extracted from the walls of the vases through the use of solvents. Seventeen vases were tested using this non-destructive method. The results show that the chemical evidence is consistent with scented contents, and that the vases contained resinous substances and a liquid carrier, probably oil. The scents appear to have been pungent rather than floral, some of them suggesting cedar, which raises the possibility that the scents could have served as insect repellent or in embalming. (MAA 7/99)

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Black-figure Lekythos (Oil Vessel): Achilles and Ajax Playing a Board Game with Athena Standing Between Greece, Athens, Late 6th c. BCE Pottery 82.299 Gift of Saul and Gladys Weinberg in memory of C.H. Emilie Haspels

Published: William R. Biers, "Gaming Heroes: Ajax and Achilles on a Lekythos in Missouri," Muse 23 & 24 (1989-90) 48-61

A lekythos is a flask with one handle, narrow neck and deep mouth, used for oil and unguents, as an athlete's oil bottle or a woman's toilet bottle, and as a tomb offering. On this lekythos, Achilles (on the left) and Ajax gaze intently at the board, holding their spears over their left shoulders. Ajax has just made a throw, and Achilles points at the board. Both heroes are helmeted and wear tunics, corselets, short cloaks, and greaves. Their shields lean against the palm trees that frame the composition. Both shields, seen in profile, are of the so-called Boeotian type, and carry blazons, that of Ajax being a tripod with only one leg visible.

Between the heroes stands Athena wearing peplos, cloak, and aegis, the snake-bordered goat-skin given to her by Zeus. With her left hand she gestures, as if summoning the heroes, who are so intent on the game that they ignore her.

This episode from the Trojan War does not occur in the extant literature (Homeric poems), and one can only speculate on the incident. Perhaps the heroes are playing at Aulis where the Greek fleet waited for the wind to carry them to Troy and where Palamedes invented games to while away the time. More likely the heroes are playing on the Trojan Plain and are so engrossed in the game that they do not hear the alarm, warning of an attack by the Trojans.

The scene of Achilles and Ajax playing a board game was introduced into Greek vase-painting in the period 545-530 BCE by Exekias, one of the great, inventive Attic vase-painters of the 6th century. This example, remarkable for its monumental size, is one of several vases that copied Exekias' scene. The theme remained popular only into the early 5th century. The reason for its short popularity and its significance can only be conjectured. Attempts made to read it as a political allusion to an actual historical event have now been discounted. (MAA 7/99)

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Lekythos; Diosphos Painter Greece, Athens, Ca. 500-490 BCE Pottery 58.12 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no 57 C.H. Emilie Haspels, "A Lekythos in Six's Technique," Muse 3 (1969) 24-28

The shape of this vase is standard for late-6th to early-5th century BCE lekythoi: wide foot, tall, fairly narrow, cylindrical body rising to flattened shoulder with sharp carination between the two, cylindrical neck, and tall, flat-topped mouth. The unusual feature is the way it is painted–in the so-called Six's technique, named after Jan Six, the Dutch scholar who in 1888 published the first major study of the method. In Six's technique, the body of the vase is covered in black glaze, and the design is affected through a combination of incision and added colors.

On this lekythos the technique has been perfected. (This vase is one of the special vases in the museum's collection.) The scene shows a detail from a battle. A fully armed hoplite, or soldier, rushes past his fallen adversary. The uncovered parts of the hoplite's body are drawn in incision, his armor rendered in color, with inner details incised. The fallen warrior, his armor stripped from him, lies at the hoplite's feet, one arm stretched over his head, his mouth slightly open, his eye almost closed. He is painted in color with incised anatomical details. The variety of color used is partially responsible for the liveliness of the scene: two shades of red, flesh color on the fallen body, light buff and darker buff.

When Six's technique first appeared, it was in a much simpler form and was used as a means of achieving the effect of a red-figured vase without the work involved in the latter technique. In the workshop of two painters, however, the Diosphos Painter (represented here) and the Sappho Painter, the technique is elaborated until an effect is achieved that differs greatly from both black-figure and red-figure.

The technique was in fashion for only a short period of time, during the last quarter of the 6th century BCE and into the early years of the 5th. This was a period of artistic experimentation, the introduction of the red-figure technique in vase-painting, and the beginnings of large-scale bronze sculpture. Six's technique may perhaps be viewed as part of a general artistic climate of experimentation, rather than merely a way of competing with the growing popularity of red-figure vase-painting. (MAA 7/99)

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Shield Blazon in Form of Triskeles (Three Bent Legs) with Horse's Head East Greece, 6th c. BCE Bronze 77.7 Partially funded by the MU Student Fee Capital Improvements Fund

Published: Handbook, no. 55

Hoplite Greece, Arcadia (?), 550-500 BCE Bronze 61.4 Museum Purchase

By the beginning of the 7th c. BCE the round hoplite shield was in use in Greece. These shields, made of wood and bronze, were decorated on the exterior with bronze blazons nailed to the shield. Many different kinds of devices are known from representations in vase painting, from literary sources, and from actual examples found. Blazons served several purposes. They identified foe from friend, they grouped members of the same city state, they could inspire fear, or could delineate personal characteristics. The use of the triskeles as a blazon was known from vases and literary sources, but no actual examples had been found until now. The triskeles perhaps indicates that the bearer of the shield was a fast runner, since an ancient author refers to the bearer of a shield with this type of blazon as running swiftly away on his three feet. On the other hand, it may be just a decorative device.

The horse's head in relief in the center wears a collar and a bridle decorated with rosettes. The legs of the triskeles are decorated with rosettes also. Since the shield was worn on the left arm, the legs would seem to be moving forward. Holes left by nails for attaching the blazon can be seen, and several ancient patches and the holes where others have fallen off are from ancient repairs. Slits in the bronze may be from sword thrusts. At some time in antiquity the blazon was folded. Crease marks are evident across the legs. Perhaps the blazon was folded so that it could be included in the grave of the deceased. Alternatively, the blazon was folded for storage after it had been dedicated in a sanctuary. Votive offerings could not be discarded, and when a sanctuary became too full of offerings, they were stored out of sight, or buried within the sanctuary.

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The little figure of a hoplite is missing his shield and spear. (His right hand is pierced for the spear, his left arm bent and extended for the shield.) He wears a cuirass and crested helmet of so-called Illyrian type. This type of helmet was invented in the Peloponnese in the 7th century BCE The open face and protective cheek pieces are its characteristic feature. It offered less protection than the contemporary Corinthian helmet, which covered almost everything except the eyes, but at the same time allowed better vision. (MAA 7/99)

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Black-figured Oinochoe (Jug): Theseus and the Marathon Bull Greece, Athens, Late 6th c. BCE Pottery 66.309 Gift of Mrs. C.L. Fleece; ex Frothingham collection

Handle Attachment for a Situla (Steep-walled Pail): Head of Herakles Greek, late 4th c. BCE Bronze 58.2 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no. 60

These objects feature two important Greek heroes, Theseus and Herakles. Until the late-6th century BCE, the Attic hero Theseus was known in myth mainly as the slayer of the Cretan Minotaur. At about 515 BCE, however, new adventures were added to the story of his life, among them the scene depicted here, capture of a bull that had been ravaging the countryside around Marathon. Theseus is shown binding the bull with ropes, while a woman, probably the goddess Athena, stands behind to encourage and give aid.

Theseus's frequent depiction on vases reflects his popularity with Athenians as their hero, the equal of the Dorian hero Herakles. Perhaps official encouragement provided the initial impetus for such popularity, encouragement by an aristocratic family, the Alkmeonidai, who opposed the tyrant Peisistratos and his sons. In popular belief, Peisistratos was linked with Herakles.

The bronze head of Herakles was originally one of a pair of attachments for a pail with swinging handles. The ends of the handles were looped through the holes at the top. The attachment is solid cast and depicts the hero Herakles as a mature man with heavy beard and mustache and somber expression. He wears the skin of the Nemean lion on his head; the paws are tied beneath his chin and the upper jaw of the lion and the tufts of its mane frame Herakles' face. The nobility of expression and accomplished modelling of the face make this bronze one of the masterpieces of the collection.

The twelve labors of the hero Herakles were frequently depicted in Greek art. The labors were imposed upon him after he had murdered his wife and children in a fit of madness induced by the goddess Hera who had implacably pursued him since birth. One of his labors was to kill the Nemean lion, whom he then flayed. After this labor, he wore the lionskin, and in art it is one of the attributes by which he is recognized. (MAA 7/99)

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Female Head Vase Greece, Athens, ca. 475-450 BCE Pottery 71.9 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no. 58 William R. Biers, "An Attic Head Vase," Muse 7 (1973) 17-

20

Combinations of artistic techniques were often used in Greek art. This Attic head vase is an example where the potter, the painter, and the modeler presumably all contributed their talents. The body of the vase was formed in a mold in the shape of a head, while other parts such as handles, neck, and lip (of the vase), were separately made and then attached to the molded part.

Attic head vases usually represented women, blacks, satyrs, and occasionally Herakles. The museum's vessel has a trefoil mouth and high-swung handle, which indicate that it was intended for pouring; thus it is to be considered an oinochoe, or jug.

The woman wears a stephane, a hair ornament resembling a coronet, which is decorated with meanders and boxed, dotted Xs. The back of the head is covered with a sakkos, a simple form of hair covering. There are a large number of vessels similar to the museum’s, but only eight that wear stephanes. Of the latter group, at least five are so like one another that they all probably came from the same mold. It has been suggested that these were containers for perfume or some other liquid intended for the dressing table. (MAA 7/99)

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Red-figured Kylix (Drinking Cup); Near Oltos or Epiktetos Greece, Athens, ca. 520-510 BCE Pottery 75.81 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no. 56

A satyr, a mythical wild creature usually shown with horse's tail and ears, here carries a Scythian type of shield known as a pelta. This is perhaps a reference to the battle of Gods and Giants, the epic struggle between the Olympian gods and the sons of Uranus. Late 6th-century vase-paintings depicting this battle often show satyrs participating with the god Dionysos. Satyrs are frequently associated with the god and his circle of followers.

The painting style recalls Oltos or Epiktetos, important Athenian cup-painters of the early years of red-figure vase-painting, which was invented in Athens, probably ca. 530 BCE Red-figure is the reverse of black-figure--the figures are in reserve and the background is black. In red-figure vase-painting, details were painted in dilute glaze, with a thicker line, called a relief line, being used for some contours and inner details. The three-quarter pose of the satyr, seen from the back, is typical of the early red-figure artists' interest in showing the body in space. The kylix is also an excellent example of how a more fluid style could be achieved for interior lines in the new red-figure technique, compared to the incised line of black-figure. The artist has fitted the figure into the awkward circular field, or tondo, of the inside of this cup by using the whole space. Another solution frequently used was to draw a ground line across the lower part of the circle. (MAA 7/99)

These four vases represent vessels used at symposia, the drinking parties that followed evening meals. Greeks mixed their wine with water in a large vessel like the krater. Wine was brought in an amphora, and the mixture was drunk from cups like the two discussed here. The symposium was an important social occasion at which conversation, drinking songs, and poetry recitals took place. A female pipes-player usually provided music, and hired artists might perform dances and give acrobatic displays. Games were also played. In one game, kottabos, or wine-throwing, guests threw the last drops of wine from their drinking cups at a target. (MAA 7/99)

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Red-figured Nolan Amphora; Hermonax Greece, Athens, ca. 460 BCE Pottery 83.187 Weinberg Fund and gift of Museum Associates

The artist Hermonax signed several vases, and his style has been recognized on more than one hundred others, among them this amphora with a woman running up holding a fillet, or ribbon, probably intended for the youth on the other side. Hermonax is a follower of the Berlin Painter, one of the most important red-figure painters of the period 500-475 BCE Characteristic of both artists are the single figures isolated against the black background. Hermonax, more than most of his contemporaries, preserves the freshness and sense of movement of the preceding age, the time of the Berlin Painter. A mark of his style is the way he draws the eye: the upper lid is convex instead of concave to the lower, and the iris is shown as a large black dot at the inner corner. This gives his faces an alert expression.

The term Nolan amphora refers to this particular type of small amphora, or two-handled jar, examples of which were first discovered at Nola, near Naples, Italy. (MAA 7/99)

These four vases represent vessels used at symposia, the drinking parties that followed evening meals. Greeks mixed their wine with water in a large vessel like the krater. Wine was brought in an amphora, and the mixture was drunk from cups like the two discussed here. The symposium was an important social occasion at which conversation, drinking songs, and poetry recitals took place. A female pipes-player usually provided music, and hired artists might perform dances and give acrobatic displays. Games were also played. In one game, kottabos, or wine-throwing, guests threw the last drops of wine from their drinking cups at a target. (MAA 7/99)

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Red-figured Kylix (Drinking Cup); Curtius Painter Greece, Athens, ca. 440 BCE Pottery 66.2 Chorn Memorial Fund

Published: Gloria S. Merker, "A Boar Hunt by the Curtius Painter," Muse 16 (1982) 67-79

Red-figured Bell-krater; Varrese Painter South Italy, Apulia, 370-330 BCE Pottery 62.39 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no. 68

The Curtius Painter belongs to the red-figure cup workshop of the Penthesileia Painter. The workshop, although producing for the most part carefully painted but uninspired vases, sometimes, as here, executed finer, more ambitious and original works.

The scene around the interior of the cup shows a boar hunt, clearly and deftly drawn, and successfully filling a difficult space. The boar is attacked by four hunters and two hounds. Each hunter is dressed in a broad brimmed hat and short cloak. The focal point of the scene is the group of boar and one hunter who faces the boar, holding it at bay with the point of his spear. The composition may have been influenced by a monumental painting of the Calydonian boar hunt, the exploit of the hero Meleager, helped by the Attic hero Theseus. On the underside of the cup are two groups of three youths, heavily draped and quietly conversing. A number of objects hang in the background between the youths: two covered shields with swords; a sponge, aryballos and strigil; and a wreath.

The bell-krater is an example of later red-figure painting. Red-figured vases were made by Greek colonists of South Italy between ca. 440 BCE and the end of the 4th century. The technique is that of Athens, but South Italian artists made greater use of subsidiary decoration in added colors (white, yellow, red). The Varrese Painter is a significant artist of the mid-4th century BCE with a great influence on later painters. His style features rather solemn figures, fluid drapery, and extensive use of added colors.

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The scene on this vase probably derives from the Mysteries of Dionysos, representing either a moment from a Dionysiac festival or the prelude to a marriage in Hades, the underworld. These mysteries were popular in South Italy in the 4th century BCE Initiates into the Mysteries were promised a blissful afterlife. (MAA 7/99)

These four vases represent vessels used at symposia, the drinking parties that followed evening meals. Greeks mixed their wine with water in a large vessel like the krater. Wine was brought in an amphora, and the mixture was drunk from cups like the two discussed here. The symposium was an important social occasion at which conversation, drinking songs, and poetry recitals took place. A female pipes-player usually provided music, and hired artists might perform dances and give acrobatic displays. Games were also played. In one game, kottabos, or wine-throwing, guests threw the last drops of wine from their drinking cups at a target. (MAA 7/99)

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Two Sling Bullets Greek, 4th c. BCE Lead 77.318, 77.320 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Saul S. Weinberg

Published: Tuck, Steven L., “’Ouch!’ Inscribed Greek Sling Bullets in Missouri,” Muse 33/34/35 (1999-2001) 14-42.

Sling Bullet Greece, Elateia, Early Neolithic period, 6th millennium BCE Clay 84.10 Anonymous gift

Published: Tuck, Steven L., “’Ouch!’ Inscribed Greek Sling Bullets in Missouri,” Muse 33/34/35 (1999-2001) 14-42.

One of the lead sling bullets bears the letter B, the other the name Andron. Although sling bullets were used as early as Neolithic times in Greece, as shown by the terracotta one in the Early Greece exhibit, slingers did not form regular auxiliaries of Greek armies until the last quarter of the 5th century BCE Originally stone or clay bullets were used, but in the late 5th and 4th centuries BCE the lead bullet was introduced. (Stones continued in use, however.) Lead bullets were cast in two-piece clay molds, which were made so that several bullets could be cast at once. Either the cavities for the bullets were arranged in lines, or like a tree with the bullets at the end of the branches. They were often inscribed, usually with some official name--the name of the city, or king, or commander of the army. Sometimes, the names are those of the individual leader of the brigade of slingers. Other types of inscriptions are also known, such as exclamations appropriate for the purpose (nika, conquer; dexai, take that). The inscriptions were incised backward into the molds. Some inscriptions can be associated with historical people. Thus, the letter B probably stands for the Boeotians, the people of Boeotia in Central Greece. Andron was one of the commanders of a trireme, or warship, either in the fleet of Philip II of Macedonia, or of Alexander the Great.

Ancient Greek slings were not like modern ones. They consisted of two strips of flexible material--leather, linen, or horsehair-- with a pocket for the bullet. The strips were about three feet in length. The slinger whirled the sling about his head, released one end of the sling, and the bullet was projected by centrifugal force. (MAA 7/99)

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Fish-plate; Eyebrow Painter South Italy, Apulia, 350-320 BCE Pottery 91.256 Weinberg Fund

Two wrasse, a horn-shell, and a small fish are represented on this plate. Wrasse are a type of Mediterranean fish belonging to the family of labridae and are quite commonly depicted on South Italian fish-plates, along with other varieties of fish, which are still eaten today.

It is generally agreed that fish-plates were used for serving fish. Two plates, one red-figured, one plain, were found in a cemetery at Palermo, Sicily, with a mass of fish-bones on them, and it is thought that the decoration does indicate the original function of these plates, although they could also have been used only for funerary purposes. The central depression would catch the juices from the fish and may also have held a small bowl containing fish sauce. Fish-plates are sometimes found in tombs together with a small black-glazed bowl, of a type whose ancient name appears to have been oxybaphon, "vinegar-dip" or "vinegar-saucer," a name appropriate for a container for condiments or vinegar for use with fish.

The Eyebrow Painter is named from the shape of the eyebrows that he regularly paints on his fish - a flattened omega. He also likes to decorate the bodies of his fish with wavy stripes in black and white. (MAA 7/99)

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Reliefs Representing the Battle of the Griffins and the Arimaspians, and Lions South Italy, Tarentum, ca. 350-320 BCE Gilded terracotta 62.1.1-2-3-4-6 Chorn Memorial Fund

Published: Handbook, no.69

Flying Eros Anatolia, Myrina, Hellenistic period, ca. 200-130 BCE Terracotta 81.2 Gift of the MU Student Fee Capital Improvements Fund; ex colls. de Clerq, Bomford

The Arimasp of the gilded plaques wears a short chiton (tunic), leggings, Phrygian cap, and carries a shield. The Arimasps were a legendary, one-eyed Scythian tribe. They battled griffins, part-lion, part-eagle creatures, who guarded the mines and gold of the Hyperboreans, a mythical people who lived beyond the north wind in eternal sunshine and abundance.

These small molded reliefs represent five of the known types of appliqués for coffins made in Tarentum (Taranto) in South Italy. Some of the gilding is preserved, as well as the green paint on the ground beneath the figures. The small holes are for the nails, which attached the reliefs to the coffin. It is known that they were used for coffins because several examples have survived, together with the remains of the coffins, in Alexandria and South Russia.

Fired clay (terracotta) was used extensively by the Greeks for reliefs, figurines, and protomai (busts), as well as for architectural decorations, dolls, toys for children, and plastic vases. Early terracottas were fashioned by hand, but by the early 5th century BCE most terracottas were made in molds, often with additional handmade parts attached after removal from the mold. Molded terracotta figures required a special kind of clay that was sufficiently porous to allow the water to evaporate and that contained enough inert matter such as sand to slow down the rate of shrinkage during firing. For a molded object, an archetype was pressed into a lump of moist clay to form a mold, added detail being incised after the archetype had

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been removed and before the mold was fired. Molded terracottas can be solid or hollow. If a figure was to be cast solid, clay was pressed into the mold until the latter was full, then the back was smoothed off. For hollow molding, either a flat back could be applied or, if modeling in the round was required, front and back would be molded separately and fixed together with dilute clay after removal from the molds and before firing. Hollow molded pieces were open at the base or had a vent-hole to allow the escape of expanding air in the kiln. As designs became more elaborate, parts such as head or arms were cast separately, anything up to a dozen molds being used for one figure.

Before firing at temperatures varying from 750o C to 950o C, terracottas were frequently covered with a white slip which served as a base for the mat decoration applied after firing. Since in most cases the colors have not survived, it is not always appreciated how gaily Greek terracottas were decorated. Hair was red or yellow, or sometimes black. Female and children's flesh was left white; male was painted red or pink. Drapery could be any color. Blues and greens are rare colors; reds and yellows more common. Gilding also occurs in the 4th century and Hellenistic period.

Terracottas were made for a variety of purposes. Reliefs were used as attachments to wooden furniture, as well as coffins. Figurines and protomai (busts) have been found in tombs, temple deposits, and in houses. Since figurines of different date are frequently found together in the same tomb, it is probable that they were not always acquired just as funerary offerings, although some undoubtedly were. Figurines made from the same mold and found together in a tomb indicate that they were purchased for the funeral. Others, however, were placed in the tomb as prized personal possessions of the deceased.

One of the most common grave offerings in the cemetery at Myrina were figurines of Eros, of which the museum's is a particularly fine example. A small hole in the back shows that it was made to be suspended. The color is well preserved, although the pinkish cream paint on the body has darkened to orange. The yellow paint on the upper edge of the wings served as a base for gilding, traces of which are still preserved.

Terracottas offered to a deity (votive offerings) took many forms—the deity or a deity's attribute, an object pleasing to the god, or perhaps the donor himself. In the case of healing or fertility gods, parts of the body were often offered. Votive offerings were first stood or suspended in a sanctuary. When the sanctuary became too crowded, the priests removed the offerings and placed them in a storehouse or in a pit, sometimes deliberately breaking them first so that they could not be used again. (MAA 8/95)

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Hydria (Water Jar), Hadra Ware Greece, Crete, Hellenistic period, ca. 250-190 BCE Pottery 87.82 Gift of Professor and Mrs. Chester G. Starr in memory of Elsa Nagel, of Dorothy and Charles Mullett, and the Weinberg Fund By the beginning of the Hellenistic period, the red-figure vase-painting tradition had reached its limits. Henceforth, most painted pottery was less elaborately decorated. Except for a few polychrome wares, probably intended only for funerary use, ornament took the form of designs in dark color on a light ground or light on a dark ground.

Hadra hydriae form one group of Hellenistic pottery. Two types of this ware exist. One was first coated with white as a base for polychrome decoration, added after the pots had been fired. The second, to which the museum's vase belongs, is made of a hard fabric, frequently polished to a blond to golden buff color. Designs in dark-brown to black were applied onto the clay ground before firing. The most popular decorative motifs were sprays of ivy, vines, laurel, and olive; this last is the design on the museum's vase.

Hydriae of this type have been found in many locations in the eastern Mediterranean, but most were found in Alexandria, at first in one of the main cemeteries from which the ware takes its name, but in subsequent excavations at other Alexandrian cemeteries. They were used as ash-urns for the burials of non-Egyptians--visitors to the Ptolemaic court, mercenaries, and many Greek residents of Alexandria. Egyptians continued the practice of mummification. It was long assumed that the vases were made in Egypt. Recent analysis of the clay has shown, however, that they were in fact made on Crete and exported to Alexandria.

Hadra hydriae are important because almost thirty of them are inscribed with the year of the king's reign. (Unfortunately, the museum's vase is not one of them.) These inscriptions allow those vases to be closely dated. From stylistic comparison with the dated vases, dates can be assigned to others of the group, thus creating a large body of well dated material in a period which lacks good chronological fixed points. (MAA 8/95)

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Kylix (Drinking Cup), Calenian Ware South Italy, Hellenistic period, 235-218 BCE Pottery 60.11 Museum Purchase

Published: James Terry, "Drinking a Toast to Roman Victory: A Calenian Ware Cup in Missouri," Muse 26 (1992) 21-30

Kylix (Drinking Cup) Greece (?), Hellenistic period, 3rd-2nd c. BCE Silver 77.182 Museum Purchase

Bowl or Mastos with Chased and Gilded Decoration Late Hellenistic period, ca. 150-50 BCE Silver 82.325 Weinberg Fund

Calenian ware is an Italian, black-glazed, relief pottery which was produced at the town of Cales, modern Calvi Risorta, near Capua, Italy, and probably at other sites. The dates assigned to the production of this ware are from the beginning of the 3rd century BCE into the 1st century after Christ, but the period when the best ware was produced covers the second half of the 3rd century and the first two decades of the 2nd. The interior of this mold-made cup is decorated with six ship prows in relief, with fish below and dolphins above.

The body and foot of the silver cup were hammered, and the handles cast separately and soldered on. One handle is restored. The kylix is a good example of the type of silver tableware produced in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE The style suggests that it was made in mainland Greece.

The pottery cup is an example of a potter imitating in clay more expensive metal vases. The high-swung handles turned in at the top are more suitable for a metal vase such as the silver kylix. Relief decoration on pottery vessels also imitates relief work on metal vases. These two vases illustrate connections between craftsmen working in different media.

The mastos illustrates a vessel-shape better suited to metalwork. Conical bowls without

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feet are one of the most popular vessel shapes of the Late Hellenistic period. Probably used as drinking cups, such bowls were made in silver, pottery, and glass. The shape seems to have been called a mastos in antiquity from its resemblance to the female breast (mastos, Gk. breast). (MAA 8/95)

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Votive Shield with Relief Decoration Hellenistic period, late 2nd c. BCE Terracotta 57.17 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no. 67 Linda M. Emanuel, "A Terracotta Votive Shield: Style and Iconography," Muse 11 (1977) 23-37

Twenty, nude, male warriors battle each other in this unidentified scene from the Trojan War. Sixteen of the warriors wear dark blue helmets with red plumes; eleven figures carry shields. Most are depicted in the so-called Archaic stance--head in profile, torso frontal, and legs in profile. The figures kneel, stride forward to confront an opponent over a fallen body, carry wounded comrades from the field of battle, or pull them from the fray. They are molded in relief, as is the apotropaic Gorgoneion, or Medusa head, in the center. She also preserves some of the original paint: red and black on the curls of hair on her forehead.

The shield is an example of late Hellenistic archaizing style. The poses of many of the figures and the Medusa head are archaistic, i.e. reminiscent of works of the Archaic period (6th century BCE). One may note the Archaic spiral curls of the Medusa, the striding warrior figures, the archer or kneeling spear-bearer, and the battle over the body of a fallen warrior. Similar poses are found in black-figure vase-painting and in sculpture of the Archaic period, notably the pediment from the temple of Aphaia on Aegina. Comparisons may also be made with works of later periods, major monuments of Classical and Hellenistic art, revealing the eclectic nature of this shield. For example, one group on the shield shows a fallen warrior carried on the back of another, a pose found on the frieze of the temple of Apollo at Bassae, dated to the end of the 5th century BCE Another depicts a warrior bending forward to support a collapsing comrade; a similar scene occurs in a Hellenistic group of Menelaus and Patroklos.

Votive shields were offered to the gods in gratitude for victories, or placed in graves. Other votive shields exist, but differ from this one. Most usually have a wide flat rim, some form of handle or attachment device on the inside, and a more simple composition for the decoration on the front. Because of the Missouri shield's unusual form, its clay was tested for authenticity. The thermo luminescence test confirmed a date in the late Hellenistic period. (MAA 8/95)

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Young Girl Greek, Late Hellenistic period, 2nd c. BCE or later Marble 76.163 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. A.M. Adler

The statue wears a sleeveless chiton or tunic, which is pulled out over a girdle and then bound beneath the breasts by a second girdle. In her left hand she holds a dove. Her missing right arm was probably completed in plaster since there is no dowel cutting for the attachment of a marble arm.

Similar statues of young girls have been found in sanctuaries of Artemis, Asklepios, and the Eileithyiae of Agrai (goddesses of childbirth). The most well-known of the statues come from the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron in Attica. There, little girls served the goddess. They were called bears, and when they danced in saffron tunics before the goddess were said to play the bear. The statues were dedications as ex votos, or thank offerings, for boons granted.

The statue is dated to the Hellenistic period, or later, on the basis of the transparent treatment of the drapery over the legs and the strong vertical folds in the center giving a triangular emphasis to the lower part of the body. This kind of treatment did not begin until the 2nd century BCE

Although stylistically the sculpture appears to be Hellenistic, it may in fact be a Roman copy of a Hellenistic work. The use of only one size of drill is a Roman feature. (MAA 8/95)

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Moldmade Relief Bowl Istanbul, Hellenistic period, late 3rd or early 2nd c. BCE Pottery 61.26 Chorn Memorial Fund

Published: Handbook, no. 65 Gloria S. Merker, "A New Homeric Illustration," Muse 1 (1967) 11-18

The scene in relief shows an event from the Iliad (Books 22.395-405 and 24.14-22). Achilles, in a rage over the death of his friend Patroklos, killed the Trojan prince Hektor, stripped the corpse, tied it to the back of his chariot, and dragged the body, first back to the Greek camp and later around the funerary mound of Patroklos. The bowl shows Achilles, fully armed, standing in his chariot. Hektor's feet are tied tightly to the chariot, his arms are flung over his head. A second chariot, overturned and without driver, fills the other side of the bowl. The names of Hektor and Achilles are inscribed retrograde (backwards). Lacking further attributes, we cannot be certain whether the scene is of Hektor being dragged back to the camp, or around the funerary mound, but since another bowl with the same scene shows Achilles dragging Hektor away from the walls of Troy while Hektor's wife Hecuba mourns, this was possibly the moment represented here. That same part of the story was also preferred by Roman artists.

Moldmade bowls like this one were imitations in pottery of expensive metal vessels with decorative relief work. The technique of making pottery relief bowls was probably invented in Athens, but soon spread to other areas of Greece. A number of these bowls have scenes taken from the Homeric poems. Homeric bowls may have first been made in Thessaly, at about 210 BCE, but they were not manufactured exclusively there. The museum's bowl could, therefore, have been made in East Greece, the coastal area of Anatolia, as its provenance of Istanbul suggests. Although the mold-maker signed the mold with his monogram, EP, this has not so far been found on other bowls and so cannot help to locate the workshop. (MAA 8/95)

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Red-figured Neck-amphora by the Ganymede Painter Italy, Apulia, ca. 330-320 BCE Pottery 96.1 Gilbreath McLorn Museum Fund and Gift of Museum Associates (Members' Choice)

This large funerary vase bears on its front a scene at a young man's tomb. He is shown seated in his tomb monument, or naiskos (a small, Ionic, temple-like structure), holding his pet goose and a bunch of grapes. A wide-brimmed hat (petasos) hangs in the background. The white paint probably represents the marble or stuccoed limestone of actual tomb monuments. Two women stand at the tomb. Since Apulian vases depict attendants at the tomb who do not lament or grieve, and elderly people and children are never shown in attendance, the women should probably be considered as initiates in a religious cult rather than family members. They hold fans, ribbons (fillets), and a wreath, the latter with a ribbon looped through it. Other ribbons are shown hanging to left and right. The back of the vase shows a different funerary scene. Here, two women sit on each side of a stele, around which is tied a large, black ribbon; two more ribbons hang next to it. In Greek religion, ribbons, or fillets, signify that the objects they adorn are special and sacred. One of the women holds a bunch of grapes and rests a round object, perhaps a ball, on her knee, the other grasps a ribbon and large patera, or libation bowl. A second patera rests on the ground nearby.

Except for the youth and the naiskos the vase is painted in red-figure with liberal use of white and yellow, and some red. Greek colonists living in South Italy and Sicily at first imported red-figured vases from Athens, but in about 430 BCE they began to make their own imitations. In the beginning, these vases were similar in shape and design to Attic ones, but ca. 400 BCE Apulian red-figure style began to change, perhaps responding to local taste for a more florid style. Very large vases, subjects related to drama, funerary themes, and an interest in showing perspective and foreshortening are some of the features of 4th-century South Italian vase-painting.

The ancient Mediterranean world was a complex one in which cultures communicated through trade, settlement, and conquest. These cross-cultural connections can be traced throughout many parts of the collection by comparing and contrasting artifacts that illuminate the kind of influence. In some cases it takes the form of direct copying; in others the artist or

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craftsman was inspired to create something more than a plain imitation. A vase such as this one illustrates the artistic process at work, when the culture of one community (Athens) influences the artistic products of others (the cities of South Italy). During the process one culture transforms the medium, producing art works that are different and distinctive.

A connection can also be made with actual tomb monuments. Those shown on the vase are two of the most common. Tomb reliefs with figures carved in very high relief set within naiskoi occur in Athens in the second half of the 4th century BCE, the date assigned to this vase from stylistic comparison with other dated Apulian vases. (MAA 8/97)

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Children's Drawer

This display drawer is located below the prehistoric sherds on the right-hand side. The objects relate to children's activities and interests. The rattle contains small pebbles that make a dry rattling sound when shaken. Miniature vases, like the two black-glazed cups, are found in many Greek sanctuaries; some scholars believe they may be connected with dedications concerning children. Small figures of animals, like the pig, and figures of a mother and child were also often dedications in sanctuaries. The pig may also have been a child's toy. The sieve at the top of the feeder probably served to keep insects out of the baby's drink. Knucklebones, the ankle joints of small cloven-footed animals, were used as gaming pieces. The drawing shows how they were thrown; each side had a different value like dice. (MAA 3/97)

Knucklebones Palestine, Tel Anafa, 2nd or 1st c. BCE Bone TA 70 B4, B5; TA 72 B27

Rattle: Child in Cradle Anatolia, Smyrna (?), Greek, 2nd c. BCE Terracotta 97.20 Weinberg Fund

Baby Feeder Greece, Corinth 550-500 BCE Pottery 59.55 Museum Purchase

TA 70 B4, B5; TA 72 B27

97.20

59.55

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Mother and Child Greece, 5th c. BCE Terracotta 62.43.13 Gift of Stanley Marcus

Pig Greece, 500 BCE Terracotta 73.253 Gift of Dr. Samuel Eilenberg

Cup Greece, Athens, 5th c. BCE Pottery 86.64 Gift of Marie Farnsworth

Cup Greece, Athens, 475-450 BCE Pottery 59.38 Museum Purchase

62.43.13

73.253

86.64

59.38

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White-ground Lekythos By the Bosanquet Painter (?), Greek, Attic, ca. 445 BCE Pottery 2000.1 Weinberg Fund

The lekythos is a specific type of pottery vessel that was used for pouring oil. It is particularly associated with funerary rites in which the body was anointed, and oil was also offered to the deceased after burial. Lekythoi with white backgrounds were produced in Athens from the 460s to about 410 BCE. Because of their funerary function, they offer valuable evidence about Athenian burial practices and death rituals. Their shape (small containers with a narrow pouring spout) is indicative of pouring vessels for expensive liquids, such as scented oils, which were an integral part of funerary ritual. The scenes painted on the body of the vessel offer additional information on the rituals performed, as well as Athenian views about the afterlife.

The lekythos depicts a youth and a woman standing on each side of a grave monument. The youth is draped in a cloak and leans on a staff; the woman offers a ribbon. The grave monument is a stele on a stepped base with a palmette finial, a form that finds parallels in funerary monuments excavated in contemporary cemeteries. The theme of a figure leaning on a staff, mourning the deceased, as well as women offering various gifts to the departed, are common in funerary art of the time. The scene depicted retains much of the original color and helps to reconstruct what lost wall- and panel- paintings at the time would have looked like stylistically. (MAA 02/2005)

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Figurine of Horse and Rider Greek, Boeotian, 600-550 BCE Terracotta 58.25 Museum Purchase

Published: Handbook, no 53

Terracotta figurines of horse and rider were common grave offerings in Boeotia, northwest of Attica, particularly during the sixth century BCE. This solid handmade example is typical. The reddish brown vertical and horizontal stripes, continuing from horse onto rider, demonstrate a different form of decoration.

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Lekythos Greece, Athens, ca. 370 BCE Marble 79.144 Gift of Mrs. Elsa Brummer

Head of a Girl Greece, Athens, ca. 360 BCE Marble 59.17 Gift of Mr. H.W. Prentis, Jr.

These two sculptures represent typical Greek funerary monuments of the 4th c. BCE. Marble lekythoi were frequently set up as tomb markers, or sometimes in pairs, one at each end of a family grave plot (see drawing). This lekythos shows a family group, carved in low relief. A father stands on the right, facing his wife, with their little girl between them. On the far left, a maidservant holds a baby. The figures are identified by inscriptions: Timophon, Kleippe, and Lysistrate. The marble monument copies a common vase shape, a frequent funerary offering. The photo shows a complete marble lekythos; examples of pottery lekythoi, or oil flasks, may be seen in the Greek vase case (nos. 5, 6, 7 and 12).

The head is broken from a funerary monument called a stele, a carved or painted rectangular slab. In the 4th c. BCE stelai were often in very high relief. The small scale, upward gaze, and covered hair of the head suggest that it comes from the figure of a maidservant, probably shown with her deceased mistress. Although only one side of the head would have been visible, it is carved fully in the round, an example of Greek sculptors' attention to detail. (MAA 11/96)

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Black-figured Pelike (Jar); Theseus Painter Greece, Athens, ca. 500–480 BCE Pottery 61.3 Chorn Memorial Fund

Published: Feaver, Douglas D., “Musical Scenes on a Greek Vase,” Muse 2 (1968) 14-20.

Vessels of this shape are storage jars for liquids. At a symposium, a jar like this would have held wine or water. Depicted on both sides of the vase is a musical contest at a Greek festival. The man plays a lyre or kithara; the woman double pipes. In front of each figure stands a judge wearing a wreath and leaning on a staff. (MAA 9/99)

Kylix (Drinking Cup) East Greece, Rhodes (?), ca. 600–580 BCE Pottery 76.99 Museum Purchase

The numerous, surviving drinking cups from antiquity attest the importance of wine drinking in the lives of the Greeks. This is an early version of the standard Greek drinking cup. Its low foot and rounded bowl place it in the first decades of the 6th c. BCE (MAA 9/99)

Kylix (Drinking Cup) Greece, Athens, ca. 550 BCE Pottery 61.27 Museum Purchase

The tall stemmed foot and bowl with decorated lip date this cup to a later time period than 2. As part of the decorative design, the potter, a man named Hermogenes, signed the vase in the handle zone below the ivy decoration. The lettering has now faded but is still legible. (MAA 9/99)

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Black-figured Kylix (Drinking Cup) Greece, Athens, Late 6th c. BCE Pottery 66.11 Weinberg Fund

The decoration, two dancing satyrs, is appropriate for the function of the vessel. Satyrs, mythical creatures, half-man, half goat or horse, were wild and bestial in nature. In later art and myth they appear as followers of Dionysos, the god of wine. (MAA 9/99)

Red-figured Bell-krater (Mixing Bowl) Greece, Athens, ca. 420 BCE Pottery 92.85 Weinberg Fund

Since the Greeks drank their wine mixed with water, a bowl such as this was an essential element of the symposium. The president of the symposium decided the proportions of wine to water to be drunk throughout the evening. This varied from three parts water to one or two of wine to five parts water to three parts wine, depending on the desired strength of the mixture. The scene on the vase shows a woman preparing to dance a victory, or pyrrhic, dance. Her shield, helmet and spear remind one of the goddess Athena. (MAA 9/99)

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Red-figured Column Krater (Mixing Bowl) Leningrad Painter Greece, Athens, ca. 470–450 BCE Pottery 98.14a and b Weinberg Fund

The Greeks used several different mixing bowls. These two fragments belong to a column krater, which had a broad outturned rim and two handles (see drawing). The scene on the front of the vase shows three participants in a symposium. Two recline on a couch while one plays the double pipes and the other holds a drinking cup. The third figure dances to the music. The scene on the back of the vase probably showed a komos, the procession, often drunken, that sometimes followed the symposium. (MAA 9/99)

Ladle Late Hellenistic, 1st c. BCE Bronze 74.6 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Werner Muensterberger

At the symposium, wine mixed with water was ladled from the krater into jugs or directly into individual drinking cups. (MAA 9/99)

Black-figured Eye-kylix (Drinking Cup) Greece, Athens, Late 6th c. BCE Pottery 57.4 Museum Purchase

Published: Biers, William R., “A Unique Gorgon Bird in Missouri,” Muse 36-38 (2002-2004) 29-34

This kind of drinking cup bears two pairs of eyes as part of the decoration. Their meaning may have been apotropaic, to avert bad luck, or perhaps they were merely intended to be humorous. A third suggestion may be too fanciful. The eyes are likened to the eyes found on the prows of ancient Greek ships. Just as the sea could be dangerous, so also could consumption of too much wine. (MAA 9/99)

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Sessile Kantharos (Drinking Cup); St. Valentin Class Greece, Athens, ca. 450-425 BCE Pottery 94.18 Gilbreath-McLorn Museum Fund

Skyphos (Drinking Cup) Greece, Athens, ca. 400–380 BCE Pottery 59.53 Museum Purchase

Drinking cups could take different forms. Nos. 9 and 10 are without the stemmed foot of nos. 2, 3 and 4, and the handles of the kantharos are vertical rather than horizontal. Both, however, also served as drinking cups. The shape of no. 10 resembles cups popular in the city of Corinth, Athen's rival. (MAA 9/99)

Moldmade Relief Bowl (Drinking Cup) Hellenistic period, 3rd to 1st c. BCE Pottery 87.137 Weinberg Fund

Although this vessel is unlike earlier cups, it served the same purpose. In this time period moldmade vessels were common, allowing production of many examples of the same vessel. (MAA 9/99)

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Bowl (Drinking Cup) Late Hellenistic period, ca. 40 BCE to CE 50 Cast, pale green glass 61.58 Museum Purchase

Published: Grose, David F., “The Syro-Palestinian Glass Industry in the Later Hellenistic Period,” Muse 13 (1979) 54-67.

Cast glass vessels were a luxury item. The shape is a common one for drinking cups in this time period. (MAA 9/99)

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Lagynos (Jug) Hellenistic period, ca. 200–50 BCE Pottery 59.54 Museum Purchase

Black-glazed Oinochoe (Jug) South Italy, Greek, 300–250 BCE Pottery 58.13 Museum Purchase

The two jugs 13 and 14 may reflect a change in drinking customs over time. The black-glazed jug could be used at a symposium to dip wine and water from a mixing bowl, and this shape occurs in many ancient representations of the Greek symposium. The lagynos (13) is not known before the Hellenistic period. It could not be used as a dipper. Instead, its narrow neck and mouth required a funnel to fill it. The widespread use of lagynoi in the Hellenistic period suggests that the mixing of wine and water for communal use at symposia may have fallen out of favor. Perhaps individuals brought their own drink with them to the drinking party in their own lagynoi. (MAA 9/99)

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Figurine of a Seated Woman Greece, Thessalía (Thessaly), Neolithic, 6th millennium BCE Terracotta 66.343 Museum Purchase

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Collared Jar Greece, Amorgos (?), Early Cycladic II, ca. 2700-2400/2300 BCE Pottery 58.4 Museum Purchase

The birds on this jar, said to come from the island of Amorgos, are unique, since ships and fish are the only other figured representations occurring on Cydadic pottery. Although ducks or other water birds may be intended, the representations are too schematic for identification. The shape of the jar is also unusual in that it lacks the flaring pedestal foot normal for jars of this type. The use of white-filled, incised, and impressed decoration together on the same vase is, however, common on pottery from this period.

Reference: Thimme, ed., Art and Culture of the Cyclades, no. 377.

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"Bird's Nest" Bowl Early Minoan II-III, ca. 2700-2000 BCE Steatite 62.59 Museum Purchase

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Lamp Greece, Crete, Mallia, date uncertain Terracotta 77.249 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Saul S. Weinberg

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One-Handled Koumasa Ware Jug Greece, Crete, Early Minoan IIA, ca. 2600-2200 BCE Pottery 72.80 William and Anna Weinberg Purchase Fund

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Trichrome and Barbotine Jug Unknown (Greece, Crete), Middle Minoan IB, ca. 1900 BCE Pottery 64.70 Museum Purchase

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Flask Unknown (Greece, Crete), Late Minoan IIIB, ca. 1310-1200 BCE Pottery 70.29 Museum Purchase

Published: French, Elizabeth and Penelope Mountjoy, “Some Thoughts on the Mycenaean Pottery in the Collection of the University of Missouri, Columbia,” Muse 25 (1991) 42-53.

Tripod Bed Unknown (Greece, Mycenaean), Late Helladic III, ca. 1435-1050 BCE Terracotta 78.29

Pilgrim Flask Unknown (Greece, Mycenaean), Late Helladic IIIA2, ca. 1375-1300 BCE Pottery 68.103 Museum Purchase

Published: French, Elizabeth and Penelope Mountjoy, “Some Thoughts on the Mycenaean Pottery in the Collection of the University of Missouri, Columbia,” Muse 25 (1991) 42-53.

Stirrup Jar, Argive Close Style Unknown (Greece, Mycenaean), Late Helladic IIIC Middle, ca. 1130-1070 BCE Pottery 70.28 Museum Purchase

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Phi-Type Figurine Unknown (Greece, Mycenaean), Late Helladic IIIA2-Early Late, Helladic IIIB, ca. 1375-1275 BCE Terracotta 78.28 Museum Purchase

Alabastron Greece, Perati (?), Late Helladic IIIA1, ca. 1400-1375 BCE Pottery 63.14 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Vermeule III

Published: French, E. and Mountjoy, P. “Some Thoughts on the Mycenaean Pottery in the Collection of the University of Missouri, Columbia.” Muse 25 (1991) 42-53

Armband Greece, said to be from Olympia, Late Geometric period, ca. 700 BCE Bronze 64.3 Museum Purchase

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Attic Oinochoe Greece, Attica, Late Geometric, ca. 735-720 BCE Pottery 60.19 Museum Purchase

Attic Footed Bowl Greece, Attica, Late Geometric, ca. 700 BCE Pottery 61.28 Museum Purchase

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Lekanides (Plate) with Relief Decoration Greece, Crete, Late Geometric, ca. 750 BCE Pottery with traces of slip paint 73.212 Museum Purchase

Published: Reed, Nancy, “A Daedalic Sampler,” Muse 15 (1981) 58-67.

Depicted in relief, the winged figure of the Potnia Theron, or Mistress of the Animals, is shown with two goats or deer. White-painted rosettes fill the background. Cretan lekanides such as these were used as the lids of funerary urns during the seventh century. This example, however, has two holes in the rim for suspension, suggesting that the lid is a votive object. Many of these lids are decorated with painted rosettes and other motifs, but the combination of relief work and painted decoration is extremely rare. (MAA 1982)

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Collection of Beads Greece, Geometric-Early Archaic, 8th-early 6th century BCE Amber 91.117.1-7 Anonymous Gift

Near the Dolphin Painter Alabastron Greece, Corinth, 630-590 BCE Pottery 67.48 Museum Purchase

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Figurine of a Centaur from the “Centaur Workshop” Greece, Boeotia, Schimatari (?), late 7th century BCE Terracotta 58.20 Museum Purchase

Daedalic Relief Plaque of a Standing Woman South Italy, ca. 650-625 BCE Terracotta 71.12 Museum Purchase

Published: Reed, Nancy B., “A Daedalic Sampler,” Muse 15 (1981) 58-66.

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Pentagonal Antefix and Eaves Tile Greek, Archaic, early 6th century BCE Terracotta 58.19 Museum Purchase

Decorative roofing systems were common in Greek, Roman, and even Near Eastern architecture. An antefix is an ornamental attachment that decorated the ends of the cover-tiles above the eaves. Terracotta antefixes were initially used in timber and mudbrick construction to protect the building from water damage. Stone antefixes followed later in ashlar buildings. Antefixes frequently took the form of palmettes but were also fashioned to resemble human or animal heads. Akroteria are large ornaments that adorned the corners and ridgepole ends of roofs on Etruscan, Greek, and Roman temples. Akroteria took the form of figures, plants, discs, or other shapes. (MAA 9/05)

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Base of a Hydria Handle with Female Protome Greece, Lakonias, ca. 610-590 BCE Bronze 87.1 Weinberg Fund

Oinochoe, Late Wild Goat Style East Greece, probably ancient Caria, ca. 600 BCE Pottery 71.113 Museum Purchase

Published: Hemelrijk, Emily A. and Jaap M. Hemelrijk, Sr., “A Homeless Billy Goat in Missouri,” Muse 23-24 (1989-1990) 30-47.

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Edinburgh Painter Black-Figure Lekythos Greek, ca. 510 BCE Pottery 67.47 Museum Purchase

The Edinburgh Painter, named after his most well-known lekythos in the Royal Scottish Museum, belongs to the latest group of black-figured painters who worked from the late sixth to the middle of the fifth century B.C.E. The Edinburgh Painter is the first important painter of the large, cylinder lekythoi. He is thought to have introduced the “white-ground” technique, which is the use of white slip for the body picture instead of the customary red clay ground. His style is clear and uncluttered, and known for figures with big, round eyes. (MAA 6/09)

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Handle from a Beaked Oinochoe with Kore Protome and Gorgon Greece, Korinthos (Corinth), 520-510 BCE Bronze 99.3 Weinberg Fund

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Teano Ware Kernos South Italy, 330-310 BCE Pottery 92.74 Weinberg Fund

Aryballos Unknown, but possibly manufactured in Egypt, Kawm Ju`ayf (Naukratis) (?), ca. 575 BCE or later Faience 60.43 Museum Purchase

"Bird-Faced" Pappas Greece, Boeotia, ca. 575-525 BCE Terracotta 58.26 Museum Purchase

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Chalice Greece, Khios (Chios), mid-6th century BCE Pottery 90.111 Weinberg Fund

Kylix Greece, Lakonias, Archaic period, ca. 525 BCE Pottery 88.88 Gift of Chi Omega Sorority, University of Missouri-Columbia in honor of their seventy-fifth anniversary

Satyr Mask Pendant Unknown (Greek), Late Archaic-Hellenistic period, 5th-2nd century BCE Terracotta 71.138 Museum Purchase

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Figurine of a Seated Veiled Woman Unknown (Greek), ca. 500 BCE Terracotta 59.42 Museum Purchase

Protome of a Female Head Italy, Sicily, Selinunte, ca. 510 BCE Terracotta 82.1 Gift of Dorothy and Charles Mullett

Attic Black-Glazed Inkwell Greece, Attica, 5th century BCE Pottery 59.56 Museum Purchase

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Aryballos Greek, Turkey, ca. 475-425 BCE Glass 85.41 Weinberg Fund

Published: McClellan, Murray C., “Ancient Glass Perfume Vases: The Collection of the Museum of Art and Archaeology,” Muse 19 (1985) 34-43.

Attic Lamp Greek, Attica, ca. 475-450 BCE Terracotta 64.14.1 Museum Purchase

Statuette of Pan Greek, Turkey, 5th-3rd century BCE Bronze 85.59 Weinberg Fund

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Diadem with Palmettes Greek, Turkey, Late 5th-4th century BCE Gold 93.5 Weinberg Fund

Loom Weight with Bull and Tree Greece, Corinth, ca. 400 BCE Terracotta 75.73 Anonymous gift

Pyxis and Lid Unknown, Greek, 4th century BCE Marble 61.10a and 61.10b Museum Purchase

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Figurine of a Comic Actor Cyprus, Salamis, ca. 350-325 BCE Terracotta 84.57 Weinberg Fund

Figurine of a Bearded Male Unknown (Greek), ca. 400 BCE Terracotta 57.3 Museum Purchase

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Attic Black-Glazed and Stamped Kalyx Krater Greece, Attica, ca. 350 BCE Pottery 61.6 Chorn Memorial Fund

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Figurine of a Woman with Child Greek, Hellenistic period, 1st century BCE Terracotta 66.352 Gift of Mr. Zoumboulakis

Figurine of a Seated Woman South Italy, ca. 250 BCE Terracotta 94.13 Gift of Deborah Melton Anderson, Carol and Eugene Lane, Gertrude Marshall, Walter Curry Melton, Helena Mullett, Charles Mullett, Christine Marshall and David Rees in memory of Dorothy Mullett

Published: Anonymous. "New Acquisitions," The News. 23 (Winter). 1995.

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Askos with Plastic Decoration Depicting Skylla South Italy, Apulia, probably Canosa, late 4th century BCE Pottery 2008.172 Weinberg Fund and Gilbreath-McLorn Museum Fund

This vessel has the form of an askos (Gr: wineskin). In reality, an askos was stitched from animal skin and used to carry wine. The wineskin became imitated in pottery, and the resulting vessel type enjoyed great popularity.

While some of these vessels were used to serve wine, this one would have been used in a burial ritual or as a grave offering because it has no bottom. In Greek burial rituals, the askos was placed on the ground and a libation was poured into the spout. The liquid offering would then trickle down through the bottomless vessel and into the earth, where the deceased was interred.

This askos is decorated with the monster Skylla, a lethal female creature like the Sirens, the Sphinx, and the gorgon Medusa, who killed sailors and other hapless travelers. According to myth, Skylla dwelt in the rocky crags overhanging the Straits of Messina, between Sicily and Italy, where she plucked unlucky sailors from their ships with the help of mutant dogs that grew from her torso. While all these creatures were deadly, their images also could have an apotropaic or protective function. In this instance, Skylla appears to be making an oblation, holding an offering dish in one hand and a fish in the other. These are likely references to funerary offerings or a ritual meal at the gravesite. (MAA 12/11)

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Gem showing Head of Herakles in Relief Greek, Eastern Iran (probably Bactria), 3rd-2nd century BCE Turquoise 65.149 Museum Purchase

Published: Krug, Antje, “Two Turquoise Gems from Iran,” Muse 14 (1980) 36-42

Intaglio Gem with the Head of a Deer Greek, Near East (?), probably Hellenistic period, 323-31 BCE Amethyst 70.182 Museum Purchase Intaglio Gem with a Grazing Horse Unknown (Greek), Hellenistic period, 323-31 BCE Chalcedony 62.37 Museum Purchase Snake Ring Greek, Turkey, Late Hellenistic period, ca. 167-37 BCE Gold 85.46 Weinberg Fund

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"Crescent-Moon" Earring or Pendant Greek, Hellenistic (Jordan, Irbid), 1st century BCE? Gold 77.382 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Saul S. Weinberg "Swivel" Ring with Scarab Greek, Hellenistic (Jordan, Irbid), possibly 4th-3rd century BCE? Gold 77.383 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Saul S. Weinberg Pin Greek, Hellensitic period, 323-31 BCE Bronze, bone, gold Chorn Memorial Fund

Pair of Earrings with Bull's Head Finials Greek, East Mediterranean, Hellenistic period, ca. 175-150 BCE Gold 66.301 Museum Purchase

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Female Head, perhaps of Demeter or Persephone South Italy, probably Taranto (Tarentum or Taras), 4th century BCE Terracotta 2008.169 Weinberg Fund

This extraordinarily well-preserved female head is broken from a larger figure, probably prepared for a religious rite with a tall decorated crown, a stiff mantle/fillets falling to the shoulders, earrings, and hair dressed with corn ears/wheat sheafs (?) and poppy blossoms. Iconography suggests such heads represent the goddess Demeter, the goddess who symbolized agricultural regeneration in the Greek pantheon. The fertile lands of southern Italy made the cult of this goddess prevalent in the numerous Greek-founded cities. The goddess had widespread appeal, however, and her most famous cult site was Eleusis, near Athens. Another very similar head comes from the western Peloponnesos, but its precise provenance is unknown. (MAA 2008)

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Female Head Italy, Veii (?), Hellenistic period, late 4th century BCE Terracotta 59.66 Museum Purchase

This delicate, finely modeled head conveys both the charming and endearing qualities of youth. Children and pre-adolescents played important roles in religious ritual, from performing ceremonial duties to carrying ritual implements. This head may have been offered at a sanctuary by a wealthy individual or family whose daughter was a devotee of a particular cult. (MAA 7/09)

Mold with a Comic Scene, Perhaps from New Comedy Greek, Late Hellenistic to Early Roman Period, 1st century BCE – 1st century CE Terracotta 80.195 Weinberg Fund

Published: Biers, William R. "Culinary Chaos. A Scene from New Comedy," Antike Kunst. 28. 1985:40-44.

Alabastron Greek, Turkey, ca. 500-450 BCE Glass 85.44 Weinberg Fund

Published: McClellan, Murray C., “Ancient Glass Perfume Vases: The Collection of the Museum of Art and Archaeology,” Muse 19 (1985) 34-43.

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