Etruscan Pottery Bucchero Ware: Bucchero amphoriskos
Inv. No.: 82.008
Provenance: Central Western Italy (early Etruscan; purchased from M. Simotti-Rocchi, Antichita’ Archeologia, Rome)
Date: second half 7th century BC
Height: 121mm
Width: 100mm
A small amphora with a slightly flaring mouth that narrows slightly before leading into a neck that flares towards its base, joining an ovoid body. A slight groove marks this join. There is a small ring foot and two flat strap handles. The latter are placed symmetrically, one on each side of the vase. Each curves smoothly from the rim of the mouth to the shoulder of the vase. The clay varies from dark grey to red in colour and the surface is shiny. There is a decorative pattern incised into the clay on each side of the body of the vase consisting of a central profile bird sitting on a spiral S shape, placed on its side. Beneath the handles is a large "W" made from multiple incised lines and the handles are also decorated with incised lines. The shape is Rasmussen’s Amphora Type 1b, known because of the characteristic decoration as a spiral amphoriskos, a commonly found early Etruscan vase type. It is probably derived from a metal prototype and a larger version of the shape inspired the Nikosthenic amphora. The vase has been skilfully reassembled from a number of fragments. One handle is chipped and the surface is abraded in places.
Function:
Used as a container for liquids such as wine or oil.
Manufacture:
Made on a wheel with hand-made handles attached with slip, it was turned when leather-hard and fired in a reducing atmosphere. However, some oxidation has taken place preventing the achievement of the perfect shiny black final appearance that is characteristic of the finest bucchero ware.
Decoration:
- The profile birds, one on each side of the vase, are very similar in appearance. Each has a large head with an incised dot for an eye, a large beak (on one side the lower outline of the beak is missing), a body with a full breast and one wing with feathers indicated by four incised lines and a single long line at the bottom ending in a curl indicating the tail. Two feet are depicted, each with three toes, one in the gap between the spiral patterns and the other sitting on top of the right-hand spiral.
- The pattern beneath each bird is a double spiral, each consisting of four turns.
- The W pattern beneath each handle is made from four more or less parallel incised lines.
- On each handle, three incised lines run the length of the handle, curving slightly towards the left-hand side of the base of the handle.
Bibliography:
Defosse, P., "A propos du bucchero étrusque", Latomus, 34 (1975), 1073-1078, especially 1075-1076 (firing technique).
Gran Aymerich, J. M. J., "Vases métalliques et céramiques dans le contexte étrusco-italique archaïque", Italian Iron Age Artefacts in the British Museum: Papers of the Sixth British Museum Classical Colloquium, ed. J. Swaddling, London, British Museum, 1986, 43-46.
Ramage, N. H., "Studies in Early Etruscan Bucchero", Papers of the British School at Rome, XXXVIII (1970), 1-61.
Rasmussen, T. B., Bucchero Pottery from Southern Etruria, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979, especially 70-71 (Amphora type 1b).
Spivey, N., "Greek vases in Etruria", Looking at Greek Vases, eds. T. Rasmussen and N. Spivey, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991, 131-150, especially 139-141 (Etruscan vase shapes produced in Greece).
Comparanda:
Brendel, O. J., Etruscan Art, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin, 1978, Fig. 26 (silver vase from the Regolini-Galassi Tomb with similar shape and decorative scheme; c. 650-630 BC).
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Italia 21, Museo Preistorico L. Pigorini 1, Tavola 9, 5 (similar shape and decoration).
De Puma, R., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, The J. Paul Getty Museum 6, USA 31 (1996), Pl. 301, 4-6 (similar shape and decoration; lacks bird).
Pryce, F. N., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Great Britain 10, British Museum 7 (1932), IV B a, Pl. 13, 17 (spiral amphoriskos).
Ramage, N. H., "Studies in Early Etruscan Bucchero", Papers of the British School at Rome, XXXVIII (1970), Fig. 16, 3 and Pl. IV, b (incised bird).
Rasmussen, T. B., Bucchero Pottery from Southern Etruria, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979, Pl. 2 (especially 5).