The Cleveland Museum of Art (spacer)
Special Exhibitions 		(spacer) (separator) (spacer) (spacer)
Magna Graecia 		(spacer)
(spacer)
  Magna Graecia: Greek Art From South Italy and Sicily > Exhibition Highlights > Lion Vessel (about 600-575 BC)
 
 
Lion Vessel (about 600-575 BC)
Syracuse, Giardino di Spagna
Terracotta, refined light brown and yellow clay, painted
Museo Archeologico Regionale "Paolo Orsi" di Siracusa, inv. 43332
[Cat. no. 48]

Lion Vessel (about 600-575 BC)

This small vessel in the form of a lion once held perfume or scented oil and likely rested on the dressing table of a woman. Found in a tomb, it accompanied her to the afterlife. Manufactured in Corinth on the Greek mainland, it was imported to Magna Graecia along with hundreds of other works of pottery from locations such as Corinth, Attica, and the island of Rhodes, to name just a few. The importation of pottery to Magna Graecia was a huge industry, and many of the finest examples of mainland Greek pottery are known to us due to their preservation by placement in tombs in Italy. This little lion vessel is one of the finest known preserved examples of a typically Corinthian style in that the clay from the region has a yellow hue and the artist uses black and red paint to define the lion's fur and mane. The lion, along with other wildlife, was a common subject in Corinthian pottery production, yet lions are not native to Greece and the subject is likely an import from Persian or Egyptian art.

Page 21 of 23 | On the next page: Red-Figure Bell-Krater (about 470-450 BC)