Late Early Corinthian to Middle Corinthian Aryballos Fragment

Date
Ca. 630-590 BC, Lydian
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
Butler B-P1335
Material
Ceramic
Object Type
Pottery
Pottery Shape
Aryballos
Pottery Ware
Early Corinthian, Middle Corinthian
Pottery Attribution
Site
Sardis
Sector
Nec
Trench
Tomb 723
Findspot
Necropolis, Tomb 723
Description

Notes: "Greenish yellow clay, black varnish, red overcolor, and incision.

"On flat lip, radiating tongues; on edge of lip, traces of black stripe. On shoulder, tongue pattern and trace [or traces?] of 2 narrow bands, defining the main field. On bottom, gyron with 3 narrow bands outside it.

"In main field, 6 warriors, armed with helmets, shields and spears, marching l[eft],

“On shields, in several cases, traces of red overcolor (devices?). Between them Rosettes as filling ornaments.

"Very badly preserved."

Comment: According to C. H. Greenewalt, Jr.,112 the aryballos was one of twenty items found in Tomb 723. The only item that still survives is a bronze skyphos (Butler no. BR132) in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (MMA 26.164.12). The decoration that Chase calls a "gyron" is probably a swirl pattern. This motif, combined with the tongues around the mouth and the traces of red on the shields, helps to date the piece relatively early in the warrior type. D.A.Amyx (in a letter to C.H.Greenewalt,Jr., 15 November 1984) states that "warrior-frieze aryballoi get off to a fine start in EC, but from there it's downhill all the way," and cites Payne, NC nos.517-19 for EC. He goes on to say, "There are MC examples, although Payne does not list any, but the great mass of examples are LCI, as he places them.

Dimensions
H. 0.08; diam. 0.077
Comments
See Also
Bibliography
Author
JS