Terracotta Barrel Jug with Strainer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2010

Title: Terracotta barrel jug with strainer

Medium; Technique: Terracotta

Culture: Cypriot

Period: Cypro-Archaic I

Date: ca. 750–600 B.C.

Dimensions: H. 13 3/4 in. (35 cm) length 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm) diameter 3 15/16 in. (10 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76

Accession Number: 74.51.517


Description:

Barrel-shaped jugs, with and without strainers, are quite common in Archaic Cypriot pottery. Because they do not stand on their own, they must have served a very specific function. Found in tombs mainly in eastern Cyprus, they may have been purely funerary. This example is decorated with a large bird in flight, his talons drawn up, flanked by a pair of lotus flowers.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/greek_...