• m10-cor-81-10
    Overview of fragment. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Early Corinthian Alabastron Fragment

Date
Ca. 620-590 BC, Lydian
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
P96.031
Material
Ceramic
Object Type
Pottery
Pottery Shape
Alabastron
Pottery Ware
Early Corinthian
Pottery Attribution
Site
Sardis
Sector
HoB
Trench
HoB
B-Grid Coordinates
W14 - W16 / S90 - S93 *98.9 - 98.4
Findspot
intrusive; found in 1966
Description

Early in EC. Small fragment, perhaps from the wall of a small alabastron. Sphinx or griffin to right facing the curve of a snake's body. Only the lower portion of the sphinx's leg and a single curve of the snake's body are preserved. The leg has three parallel incisions and traces of added red in the upper part. The snake's body is incised with small flecks, perhaps representing scales. Glaze: completely worn away. Clay: hard and fine. Pale yellow-buff. Munsell no. 10 YR 7/3 (very pale brown).

The piece is small and in poor condition, but the design suggests a familiar type: curving snake between confronted sphinxes. The fragment is intrusive, as its badly worn condition suggests.

Dimensions
P.H. 0.031; P.W. 0.025; Th. 0.003
Comments
Cf. Payne, NC no. 89, pl. 12:5 (Boston MFA 98.910); no. 84, pl. 16:2 (London O.C. 406 [A 1041]).
See Also
Bibliography
Author
JS