Amphora (Storage Vessel) Body Fragment with Grazing Swans or Geese

Orientalizing
725 BCE - 650 BCE

2 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 3/8 in. (7 x 4.4 x 1 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• amphorae - Ancient Greek and Roman storage vessels of many variations usually having a large oval body with a narrow neck and two or more handles extending from the mouth or neck to the shoulders on the body.
• Animalia - Kingdom containing multicellular organisms having cells bound by a plasma membrane and organized into tissue and specialized tissue systems that permit them to either move about in search of food or to draw food toward themselves. Unable to make their own food within themselves, as photosynthetic plants do, they rely on consuming preformed food. They possess a nervous system with sensory and motor nerves, enabling them to receive environmental stimuli and to respond with specialized movements.
• East Greek
• Ionian - Distinctive pottery painting styles produced in ancient Ionia, a region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey.
• Orientalizing - Refers to the ancient Greek period and style that followed the Geometric period and existed from around 725 BCE to around 650 BCE, overlapping with the early portion of the Archaic period of Greek history. It developed in Corinth and spread throughout Greece, to Etruria, and to other places with connections to Greece. It grew out of greatly expanded Greek trade and the subsequent influence of Near Eastern and Egyptian cultures. It is characterized by the abandonment of the geometric shapes and stick figures of the Geometric period to favor curvilinear forms, fleshy figures, and new themes, including exotic animals and monsters, such as sphinxes and griffins.
• sherds - Limited to fragments of pottery or glass.
• vase paintings - Refers to two-dimensional decoration applied to pottery by using paint made of metallic oxides or other pigments held in suspension in slip or another medium. The term is particularly used to refer to Ancient Greek red- and black-figure works. See also "porcelain paintings (visual works)."
• vessels - Containers designed to serve as receptacles for a liquid or other substance, usually those of circular section and made of some durable material; especially containers of this nature in domestic use, employed in connection with the preparation or serving of food or drink, and usually of a size suitable for carrying by hand.