Etruscan Pottery Bucchero Ware: Bucchero kyathos
Inv. No.: 83.033
Provenance: Etruria (probably Vulci)
Date: second half 6th century BC
Height: 63 mm (bowl); 123 mm (base to top of handle)
Width: 116mm
A cup with a single flat strap elevated handle. The deep bowl has straight sides that flair slightly towards the rim and curve gently at the bottom to join a small flaring foot ring. The handle rises steeply from the rim and curves over sharply at the top, passing down to join the lower part of the bowl, just above the foot. A strut passes between the bowl and the handle c. 10 mm below the rim leaving a small gap between the lower part of the handle and the side of the bowl. A small knob decorates the top of the handle. The vase is metallic grey to dark brownish black in colour with a dark core. The surface has many scratches and abrasions and there are several chips missing from the rim and one large chip missing from the edge of the foot, near the left-hand side of the handle. This type of pottery was made to imitate metal wares and perhaps derived from a metal precursor. This shape (Rasmussen Type 1h) probably originated in Vulci and usually included both a spiked knob at the top of the handle and also a relief head on the inner edge of the handle. It was copied in Attic ware by Nikosthenes and exported to Etruria.
Function:
A dipper used to ladle wine mixed with water from a krater into drinking cups.
Manufacture:
A wheel-made and turned pot with a hand-made handle attached using slip as the pieces began to harden. The characteristic bucchero finish was achieved by coating the vase with a wash or slip and firing in a reducing atmosphere.
Decoration:
The only decoration is the small conical knob or boss placed at the top of the handle. It is separated from the handle by a slight groove.
Bibliography:
Ramage, N. H., "Studies in Early Etruscan Bucchero", Papers of the British School at Rome, XXXVIII (1970), especially 29-30.
Rasmussen, T. B., Bucchero Pottery from Southern Etruria, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979, especially 113-114.
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:
De Puma, R., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, USA 31, The J. Paul Getty Museum 6 (1996), Pl. 324 (two similar examples of similar shape but with more ornament; Bucchero pesante from Vulci, c. 550-525 BC).
Hayes, J. W., Etruscan and Italic Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum: A Catalogue, Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, 1985, C26 (similar shape with incised zigzag decoration on rim; second half 6th century BC).
Kranz, P. and R. Lullies, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Deutschland 38, Kassel 2 (1975), Tafel 66, 7 (similar shape but more ornate; second half of 6th century BC).
Rasmussen, T. B., Bucchero Pottery from Southern Etruria, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979, Pl. 35, 195 (Type 1h) (similar bowl shape; different handle).