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Perfume Jug or Oil Jar - Image 1
Perfume Jug or Oil Jar - Image 2
Perfume Jug or Oil Jar - Image 3
Perfume Jug or Oil Jar - Image 4
Public Domain

Cypriot

Perfume Jug or Oil Jar

750-600 BCE

Perfume Jug or Oil Jar — thumbnail 1
Perfume Jug or Oil Jar — thumbnail 2
Perfume Jug or Oil Jar — thumbnail 3
Perfume Jug or Oil Jar — thumbnail 4
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Cypriot

Perfume Jug or Oil Jar

750-600 BCE

Physical Qualities Terracotta, 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm.)
Credit Line Purchase Fund
Object Number 1926.1.15
By the end of Late Bronze Age in 1050 BCE, migrants from mainland Greece had begun to move in large numbers to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, bringing with them their artistic traditions and preferences. Unlike Cypriot containers from the Late Bronze Age--whose gestural, geometric designs were painted by hand (and which can be seen around the corner)--works produced after the arrival of these migrants are made on pottery wheels, with representational imagery being precisely painted and geometric designs applied with the aid of a compass. Such changes align Cypriot pottery from the Archaic Period (750-475 BCE) with both older pottery from the Mycenean Period (c. 1750-1050 BCE) and the more recent Greek Geometric Period (c. 900-700 BCE). These hybrid desgins characterize the artistic production of Cyprus' Archaic Period.
Purchased from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cesnola Collection, January 1926.

Explore the Collection Further

Cypriot
Fragment of a Male Figure
5th Century BCE
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1st Century
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750-600 BCE
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800-600 BCE
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c. late 15th century BCE
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1898
Cypriot
Bowl
1600-1150 BCE
Unidentified
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10th century, or later