Terracotta Lidded Vase from Centuripe in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2007

Terracotta vase
Greek, Sicilian, Centuripe, 3rd-2nd centuries BC

Accession # 53.11.5

A fundamental feature of Greek ceramics and their offshoots is that they could be used. By contrast, this vase, with its lid fixed onto the body serves a purely symbolic function. It belongs with a class of pieces associated with the site of Centuripe in Sicily. They are characterized by elaborate and delicate applied decoration and by refined polychromy executed after firing. The scene shows a bride surrounded by attendants. The vase was made for the tomb.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.