Etruscan Pottery Bucchero Ware: Bucchero chalice
Inv. No.: 71.001
Provenance: Etruria (purchased from Charles Ede)
Date: 590-570 BC
Height: 91mm
Diameter: 142mm
Width: 140mm
The lower part of the lip of this large cup is very slightly convex in profile. It then straightens and flares with three incised grooves marking the transition. A ledged carination separates the lip from the base of the bowl, which has a flattened conical profile. There is a flaring, trumpet-shaped foot with a short, hollow stem. The outside edge of the foot is round. In the interior of the vase, a deep groove separates the lip from the slightly concave floor of the bowl. The shape is Rasmussen Type 3a (Ramage Type 4 E), the standard Etruscan chalice shape. The vase is a lustrous black colour with a few small imperfections in the surface finish, but otherwise in very good condition. It has warped slightly during firing and there is some incrustation inside the foot.
Function:
A large drinking cup or stemmed bowl.
Manufacture:
A wheel-made and turned vase with a foot that was thrown separately on the wheel and joined to the rest of the vase as both pieces began to harden. It was then burnished and/or coated with a wash or slip and fired in a reducing atmosphere.
Decoration:
- The lower part of the lip is decorated with three horizontal grooves that encircle the vase.
- A flange marks the join of the bowl and lip visible as a sharply angled ridge on the exterior and a deep groove on the interior.
Bibliography:
Kanowski, M. G., The Antiquities Collection, catalogue, Department of Classics and Ancient History, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 1978, 39.
Ramage, N. H., "Studies in Early Etruscan Bucchero", Papers of the British School at Rome, XXXVIII (1970), 24-27, especially 27.
Rasmussen, T. B., Bucchero Pottery from Southern Etruria, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979, 95-101, especially 100.
Comparanda:
Blomberg, M, et al, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Sweden 2, Stockholm 1 (1983), Pl. 35, 8 (similar shape and decoration but grooved foot edge; first half of 6th century BC).
Boëthius, A. et al, Etruscan Culture: Land and People, trans. N. G. Sahlin, New York, Columbia University Press and Malmö, Sweden, Allhem, 1962, Fig. 47 (similar chalice in a group of pots from a Cerveteri chamber tomb).
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Italia 21, Museo Preistorico L. Pigorini 1, Tavola 4, 9 (similar shape but smaller foot; from Veii).
De Puma, R., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, USA 31, The J. Paul Getty Museum 6 (1996), Pl. 317, 3 (similar shape but plainer with shorter foot; c. 575-550 BC).
Hayes, J. W., Etruscan and Italic Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum: A Catalogue, Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, 1985, C18-C20 (three variations on this chalice type; all early 6th century BC).
Pryce, F. N., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Great Britain 10, British Museum 7 (1932), IV B a, Pl. 23, 11 and 12.
Ramage, N. H., "Studies in Early Etruscan Bucchero", Papers of the British School at Rome, XXXVIII (1970), Fig. 18, 3 (Type 4 E).
Rasmussen, T. B., Bucchero Pottery from Southern Etruria, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979, Pl. 28, 145-147, Pl. 29, 148 and 149 (Type 3a).