Mycenaean globular squat stirrup-jar
Creators: name: Museum, Centre for Ancient Cultures
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2022
Subjects: Archaeology of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Levant
Heritage, archive and museum studies not elsewhere classified
Archaeology not elsewhere classified
Ceramics
Classical Greek and Roman history
Other history, heritage and archaeology not elsewhere classified

description: <br> The stirrup jar, also known as a “false-neck amphora”, is one of the most common Mycenaean pottery forms, commonly found in tombs and used to contain liquids such as oil or wine; it was a popular vessel, mass produced and exported from Cyprus to South Italy. It takes its name from the presence of a pouring spout and a false neck at the centre of the terracotta vessel joined to the shoulders by handles like a “stirrup”, making them suitable for storing and transport. The most decorated examples show geometric and stylized patterns and marine motifs (e.g. octopus). This example has a round squat body on a short disc-base and a neck that protrudes vertically from the top; the flaring rim is highlighted in glaze with an internal line. The terracotta vessel is decorated with concentric broad and narrow bands in red, blackened in some areas. The shoulder is decorated with groups of strokes or line patterns. The handles are painted in black and they join in a false-sprout decoration. Object number: 127.014. Date: 1375–1300 BCE. Parallels: very similar examples London, British Museum 1884,0209.3, 1897,0401.940, 1897,0401.941, 1897,0401.1160, 1897,0401.1161, 1897,0401.1244, 1897,0401.1245, 1938,0108.31, 1978,0707.17, compare also with 1897,0401.1012, 1897,0401.1181, 1898,1231.23, 1898,1231.24, 1928,0117.17, EA29365; very similar example in colour and structure New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 74.51.5853, also compare with 74.51.1393, 74.51.5878; Boulder, Colorado University Art Museum 2006.22; Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum 48.2084; Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum 81.AE.61.2; compare with Athens, Museum of Cycladic Art ΚΠ0011. References: Furumark, A., <em>The Mycenaean Pottery: Analysis and Classification</em>, Stockholm: Victor Pettersons Bokindustriaktiebolag, 1941; Lacy, A. D., <em>Greek Pottery in the Bronze Age</em>, London: Methuen &amp; Co. Ltd., 1967, p. 202; Tzavella-Evjen, C., <em>Greek and Roman Vases and Statuettes from the University of Colorado Collection</em>, Athens: Archaiologikon Deltion, 1973, pp. 192-197; Haskell, H. W., “The Origin of the Aegean Stirrup Jar and Its Earliest Evolution and Distribution (MB III-LBI)”, <em>American Journal of Archaeology</em>, vol. 89, no. 2, 1985, pp. 221–29; Hood, S., "Mycenaean Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum", <em>Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2. Occasional Papers on Antiquities</em>, 3, 1985, pp. 1-16, no. 12, figs. 30-32; Furumark, The Mycenaean Pottery.Mountjoy, P.A., <em>Mycenaean Pottery: An Introduction</em>, Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 1993, p. 71; Spagnoli, F., “Two Mycenaean stirrup jars from the levant”, <em>Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry</em> 16(1), 2016, pp. 185-192; Langohr, C., “7. Observations on some Late Minoan Pottery from Sissi”, in Driessen, Jan, et al. (eds), <em>Excavations at Sissi III: Preliminary Report on the 2011 Campaign</em>, Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain, 2012, pp. 155-167.Photo by Steve Morton