Gnathian Ribbed Oinochoe (Wine Jug): Masks, Dancer, and Flute-Player (c. 300–275 BCE): Art, History and Details

Gnathian Ribbed Oinochoe (Wine Jug): Masks, Dancer, and Flute-Player (c. 300–275 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The ornate decoration of this grand vessel takes several forms. A mold-made male theater mask sits at the upper handle attachment, looking out over the rim. Below this, two chubby boys—a dancer and pipe-player—cavort on the neck, flanked by female masks. Farther down, a band of ivy leaves and berries on a red and yellow ribbon adorns the widest point of the vessel, with ribbing above and below.

Object facts

• Title: Gnathian Ribbed Oinochoe (Wine Jug): Masks, Dancer, and Flute-Player
• Date: c. 300–275 BCE
• Culture: South Italian, Apulian
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic
• Dimensions: Overall: 46.4 cm (18 1/4 in.)
• Collection: GR - South Italy
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1952.16

A detail from the museum

The ribbed lower body of this large jug likely emulates vessels made of precious metal.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive.
• Mayo, Margaret Ellen. The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia : an Exhibition. Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1982.
• Wunderlich, Silvia. "A Vase from South Italy." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 39, no. 8 (October 1952): 207-208.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.