Greek, Attic, late 5th - early 4th century B.C.

Terracotta

H: 13.9 cm (5.5 in)

Serial: b0015861

The black glazed oinochoe (wine pourer) is a jug used for ladling the wine from a krater and for pouring it into the wine cup. The oinochoe as an ancient Greek vase shape has a great variety of existing forms. This particular one has a body constructed from two opposed parts: the lower one widening toward the mid-section and the shoulder sharply tapering into the long and slender neck. The neck terminates in a long beaked spout, which directed the flow of liquid. The handle was formed into a trough which afforded the user of the vessel a secure grasp.

The highly purified clay slip coating of black glazed vases, which produced the vitreous black sheen upon firing in the kiln, can be considered equal to some of the best work of Greek ceramic art. Along with the embellishment of stamped designs, the lustrous, highly purified clay slip covering such vases created a valuable decorative effect. It is usually said that such vessels were designed to imitate vessels in silver or bronze. Indeed, the metallic appearance of the surface is obvious, and the emphasizing the structural divisions (especially the connection of the lower body and the shoulder) reveals a metallic prototype.

PROVENANCE

Ex- European private collection, Lyon, France, acquired 1950, thence by descent to her grandson; US private collection, acquired on the UK art market.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

RICHTER G. M. A., Shapes and Names of Athenian Vases, New York, 1935, pp. 18-20.

B. SPARKES B., TALCOTT L., Black and Plain Pottery of the 6th, 5th, and 4th Centuries B.C., The Athenian Agora XII, Princeton, 1970.