Attic Pottery - Black-Figure Ware: Spindle Whorl
Inv. No.: 95.030
Provenance: Attica (Metaponto)
Date: 6-5th century BC
Height: 38mm
Diameter: 41mm
A conical spindle whorl that is slightly concave and flaring in profile. There is a hole in the centre through which was passed the spindle or rod around which the fibre was spun into thread. The base has a beveled edge. The spindle whorl is made from orange clay and is decorated with bands of geometric decoration in added red, white and black. It is intact, but the decoration is abraded in places.
Function:
Spindle whorls are placed at the base of the rod or spindle that is used in the spinning of thread, in order to increase the momentum of the rotating spindle. The spindle increases in thickness towards its base enabling the whorl to be wedged in place.
Manufacture:
A wheel-thrown object.
Decoration:
- There are perhaps three worn red rings at the narrow end. Below them is a band of enclosed tongues. The tongues are painted either red, black, red plus added white or white. There are dots, either black or white, between the tongues.
- Next come four red rings above a second band of enclosed tongues with the pattern of black or white dots between them. Again, the tongues are painted either red, black, red plus added white or white.
- Below the second tongue frieze are four more red lines that encircle the lower edge.
- The base is decorated with a thick red ring around the central hole, then three dark thin rings, a band of enclosed tongues in red, white or black, and three thin red/brown rings around the outer edge.
Bibliography:
Davidson, G. R., Corinth. Volume XII: The Minor Objects, Princeton, New Jersey, 1952, 172 ("Spindle Whorls").
Davidson, G. R. and D. B. Thompson, Small Objects from the Pnyx: I, Athens, American School of Classical Studies (Hesperia, Supplement VII), 1943, 94-96.
Keuls, E. C., "Attic Vase-Painting and the Home Textile Industry", Ancient Greek Art and Iconography, ed. W. G. Moon, Madison, Wisconsin, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1983, 209-230.
McWhirr, A, Roman Crafts and Industries, Aylesbury, Shire Publications, 1982, 41-42.
Scheid, J. and J. Svenbro, The Craft of Zeus: Myths of Weaving and Fabric, trans. C. Volk, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England, Harvard University Press, 1996.
Strong, D. and D. Brown (eds.), Roman Crafts, London, Duckworth, 1976, 169-170.
Comparanda:
Boardman, J., Athenian Black Figure Vases: a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1974, Fig. 78 (lekythos by the Amasis Painter with wool working scenes).
Boardman, J., Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Archaic Period: a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1975, Figs. 267 and 370 (spinning scenes).
Boardman, J., Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Classical Period: a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1989, Fig. 209 (red-figure hydria by the Washing Painter with a spindle in use).
Davidson, G. R. and D. B. Thompson, Small Objects from the Pnyx: I, Athens, American School of Classical Studies (Hesperia, Supplement VII), 1943, Fig. 43, 1-10 (all are a similar shape; 3 has painted decoration).