Rim Sherd of Black-Figure Laconian Cup

Lakonian II
ca. 620 BCE-500 BCE

7/8 in. x 1 1/8 in. x 1/8 in. (2.3 cm x 2.9 cm x 0.3 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Black-figure - Refers to a style of Greek vase painting that developed from the Geometric and Orientalizing styles. It appeared in Corinth around 720 BCE, flourished in Attica by 600 BCE, and was found in Sparta, eastern Greece, and elsewhere, until the Red-figure style gradually replaced it in the late sixth century BCE. The style is characterized by a particular technique, which is characterized by the use of a refined slip, a two-stage firing process, and sintering to create black figures in silhouette on a red ground. Details were incised into the black figures or applied in purple or white pigment.
• dots - Small marks or spots, used singly or in patterns. They have been used as decorative motifs in on ritual objects in early China to denote fertility, in early Celtic and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts where they were commonly used to embellish initials letters, in heraldry, and in the decoration of glass and pottery.
• Laconian - Nationality, culture, and general style of ancient Laconia, a region in the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula, for a time having its capital at Sparta.
• rim sherds - Fragments of a ceramic or glass vessel from just below the rim.