Greece, Middle Corinthian, ca. 600 to 575 BCE. A beautifully decorated vessel from Corinth, Greece, commonly called a pyxis (a lidded container for cosmetics, ointments or trinkets; plural pyxides; however, the term pyxis is found mainly after the fourth century BCE, while contemporary references use the word kylichnis). The lid and lower section of this vessel is incised and decorated in black and red pigment with a motif that was popular in Corinth - a frieze of animals. In this case there is a pair of panthers and an ibex or long-horned goat facing a deer on the exterior walls of the container, as well as another pair of panthers and a pair of harpies adorning the lid. Around these there are rosettes and seed-like elements in the field. Above and below the registers are concentric bands, with rays above the flanged concave base, and two upright handles. A pair of undulating handles graces the body, and a raised lip is there to receive the knobbed lid. Size: 4.625" W handlespan x 3.125" H (11.7 cm x 7.9 cm)

For further information about the animal iconography of Corinthian vessels see: Darrell A. Amyx - Patricia Lawrence, Studies in Archaic Corinthian Vase Painting(Hesperia, Supplement 28) (American School of Classical Studies at Athens; Princeton, New Jersey, 1996), passim, esp. pls. 59-64; Agnes N. Stillwell - Jack L. Benson, The Potters' Quarter: The Pottery (Corinth, Volume XV Part III) (American School of Classical Studies at Athens; Princeton, New Jersey, 1984), passim (see also index p. 411 and 414); Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Oxford, Ashmolean Museum 2, 70, pl. (388) 5.9; For a pyxis with not only panthers and goats but also swans see Darrell A. Amyx, Corinthian Vase Painting of the Archaic Period (California Studies in the History of Art, 25) (University of California Press, 1988), no. 90.

Provenance: private Orange County, California, USA collection acquired before 2000

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#126231

Lid repaired from two pieces with chips to the rim and the protruding ridge underneath. Chips to base and rim of lower section. Eroded surface on interior. Expected surface wear commensurate with age.