Oil Flask in the Shape of a Bull (600–575 BCE or 1900s CE): Art, History and Details

Oil Flask in the Shape of a Bull (600–575 BCE or 1900s CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This small bull-shaped flask is similar in form and painted decoration to a class of figure-shaped perfume vessels created during the late seventh and early sixth centuries BC in Greece and Italy (especially Corinth, Rhodes, and Etruria). The stippled body decoration characterizes such vases from multiple sites, while the light-colored clay and inconspicuous orifice placement are typical of Corinth. But no other reclining bulls are known among such vases (and only a few bullheads or upper bodies), raising questions about authenticity. A 1986 analysis determined that this object had been recently fired, and a 2020 clay analysis placed its origin in the Catalonia region of Spain, far from any known ancient production area for such flasks.

Object facts

• Title: Oil Flask in the Shape of a Bull
• Date: 600–575 BCE or 1900s CE
• Culture: Greek, Corinthian or modern forgery
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic
• Dimensions: Overall: 6.5 cm (2 9/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1979.3

A detail from the museum

The curled tail masks a filling hole atop the back.

Collection credit

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Annual Report for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 6 (1980): 159-202.

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.