Situla (c. 525–450 BCE): Art, History and Details

Situla (c. 525–450 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Known as a situla, or bucket, this bronze vessel features an ovoid body with a flaring neck. The separately made foot is quite elaborate and unusually shaped for this type of vessel. More typical is the handle, designed to swing upward from its two attachments, each finely cast in the form of a frontal siren with earrings and very small, simplified wings.

Object facts

• Title: Situla
• Date: c. 525–450 BCE
• Culture: Etruscan
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: without handle: 16.6 cm (6 9/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Etruscan
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1951.28

A detail from the museum

The handle includes a loop with attached chain, perhaps meant for hanging.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Riis, P. J. "Rod-Tripods," Acta Archaeologica 10 (1939), 1-30.
• "Part II. Annual Report Issue for the Year 1951." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 39, no. 6 (1952): 131-66.
• Riis, P. J. Vulcientia Vetustiora: A Study of Archaic Vulcian Bronzes. [Copenhagen]: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 1998.

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.