Greece, probably Corinth, ca. 6th century BCE. A charmingly-shaped ceramic aryballos in the form of a siren, with a long body shaped like a dove or pigeon and a raised head of a human woman with a classic Archaic smile. The woman wears a veil and has braided hair that rests on her shoulders. A very narrow neck and a round, flat spout rises from the top of her head. The aryballos, a globular vessel with a narrow neck popular in ancient Greece, especially during the Archaic period, was used to contain perfume or oil. In vase paintings, they are sometimes depicted as being worn on a cord around the wrist of an athlete. Size: 7.25" W x 5.15" H (18.4 cm x 13.1 cm)

Our first knowledge of sirens comes from the Odyssey, when the creatures called to sailors by singing in "honey-sweet voices" and promising them great knowledge; the island they lived upon was described as littered with the bones of men lured to their death in this manner. The sirens were not described physically in the Odyssey, so the Greeks seem to have based their image of them on fantastical Near Eastern winged creatures, which were in turn inspired by the ba-bird of Egyptian mythology. The female siren figure was uniquely Greek. Sirens were bound up with ideas about death, mourning, and the underworld, although their role changed from the murderesses of the Odyssey to mourners by the fifth century BCE, possibly because of a new fear of life after death that seems to have entered the Greek consciousness in the 6th century.

This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection

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#136302

Repaired and restored at tail, with a small area of overpainting along the repair line. Small chip from rim. Otherwise in nice condition, with nice remaining detail.