Polychrome Oinochoe (Wine Jug): Deer and Lions (?) (c. 600–575 BCE): Art, History and Details

Polychrome Oinochoe (Wine Jug): Deer and Lions (?) (c. 600–575 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The animal frieze decorating the widest part of this round-bodied wine jug recalls black-figure pottery imported to Etruria from Greece (especially Corinth). The shape itself, with trefoil mouth and raised handle to facilitate pouring, also resembles Greek models, as do the simple tongues and rays above and below. But the polychromed animals—brightly painted with added white and reddish-purple—identify the vase as Etruscan, likely made at Vulci. The two deer seem to be grazing on stylized plants, unconcerned about the unusual animals pursuing them; these may be lions with horns and long tongues.

Object facts

• Title: Polychrome Oinochoe (Wine Jug): Deer and Lions (?)
• Date: c. 600–575 BCE
• Culture: Etruscan (Etrusco-Corinthian), probably made at Vulci
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic
• Dimensions: Overall: 30.6 cm (12 1/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Etruscan
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1931.425

A detail from the museum

Four animals encircle this jug—two grazing deer and two predators, perhaps lions.

Collection credit

Gift of Dr. Jacob Hirsch

Further reading listed by the museum

• Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive.
• Hanfmann, G.M.A. 1940. "A Polychrome Vase," Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum, vol. 9.3.
• Brown, William Llewellyn. The Etruscan Lion. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960.

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.