Protocorinthian (Early Black-Figure) Aryballos (Oil Flask): Animals (c. 650–640 BCE): Art, History and Details

Protocorinthian (Early Black-Figure) Aryballos (Oil Flask): Animals (c. 650–640 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Tongues encircle the rim, shoulder, and base of this small oil vessel, while two carefully incised bands of scales frame an animal frieze. Here, amid dot rosettes, are a bull, dog, and goat, all facing right, and a left-facing lion with head turned back. The black glaze has misfired red in many places, while added red enlivens numerous tongues, scales, and internal details.

Object facts

• Title: Protocorinthian (Early Black-Figure) Aryballos (Oil Flask): Animals
• Date: c. 650–640 BCE
• Culture: Greek, Corinthian
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic
• Dimensions: Overall: 13.7 cm (5 3/8 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1915.532

A detail from the museum

Artists may have used a compass-like tool to create the intricate scale patterns.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive.
• R. H. "Recent Accessions of Greek Pottery." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 10, no. 10 (1923): 178-91.
• Benson, J. L. "Some Notes on Corinthian Vase-Painters." American Journal of Archaeology 60, no. 3 (1956).

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.