Bowl
Unknown Artist
mid 6th century BCE
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
Height: 5 9/16 in. (14.1 cm) Diameter: 12 × 7 13/16 × 5 1/4 in. (30.5 × 19.8 × 13.3 cm)
Classification
Vases
Culture & Period
Etruscan · Orientalizing- Archaic
Department
Greek and Roman Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, 1896
Accession Number
96.9.165
Tags
Art Historical Context
This elegant terracotta bowl, crafted an unknown Etruscan artist in the mid-th century BCE, exemplifies Orientalizing-Archaic period's fusion of local Italic traditions with influences from Greece and the Near East. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Greek and Roman Art Department its 1896 purchase, the vessel measures about 5½ inches high with a broad diameter of roughly 12 inches, suggesting its use for serving food or liquids in elite households or rituals. Etruscan pottery like this bowl often featured dynamic animal motifs, such as the lions hinted at in its decoration—symbols of...