Middle Corinthian Amphoriskos (Oil Flask) with Animals

Archaic
ca. 600 BCE - 575 BCE

6 11/16 x 3 13/16 x 3 13/16 in. (17 x 9.7 x 9.7 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.
• 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.
• bulls - Adult males of cattle, oxen, bison, camel, moose, walrus, whale, seal, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, elephant, dolphin, and other animals.
• Corinthian - Refers to a pottery style created in the city and region of Corinth in the Peloponnese in south-central Greece, and exported extensively in other parts of Greece, Italy, and Egypt, particularly in the second half of the seventh century BCE and the first half of the sixth century BCE. It is characterized by large vessels and bold decoration arranged in friezes covering most of the surface. Designs are in black-figure on a light terra-cotta background, with red, white, and incised additions. Motifs may have been inspired by Eastern textiles and typically include animals, monsters, or human figures, with ornaments such as dots, leaves, or rosettes scattered over the background.
• geese - General term referring to members of several species of large web-footed birds in different genera, especially the genera Anser and Branta, but also including a number of waterfowl of gooselike build that live in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and belong to other groups. Geese have in common that they are larger than ducks and smaller than swans; they differ from ducks in having longer necks and legs that are set more forward.
• incising - The process and technique of producing, forming, or tracing a pattern, text, or other usually linear motif by cutting, carving, or engraving.
• miniature - Use to describe objects and beings of a reduced size or scale compared to the average or normal range for its kind.
• 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)."

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