Further images
The spherical body is decorated on both sides with an abstract depiction of a horse, the undulating bodies and limbs are fluidly incised onto the burnished brown-black surface, their elegant legs tapering to vestigial hooves. Their downward curving heads with circular eyes are replicated at the tips of their tails, giving the latter an anthropomorphic nature. In the field between the pair are two further mythical creatures, reminiscent of a seahorse or eel; they could be creatures of the sky, or simply animal-shaped clouds. The stamnos has a short upright neck and tilted, flat-topped rim. The two short, thick, round-sectioned handles are tilted upwards and widen at the junction with the belly. It has a spreading conical foot with two raised horizontal ribs. Recomposed from multiple fragments, with some insignificant lacunae made good, approximately half the foot restored, two Thermoluminescence test holes filled in.
This piece is typical of the end of the Orientalising period at Capena, central Italy. The style is characterised by its richness and its taste for fabulous creatures.
Provenance
Elie Borowski (1913-2003), Basel, Switzerland
Private collection, Belgium; acquired from the above, 1969
Private collection, Leuven, Belgium; by descent from the above, her uncle
Literature
Compare Bruce Gollan (trans.), The Art of the Italic Peoples from 3000 to 300 BC (Italy, 1993), p.202, no.102
John W. Hayes, Etruscan and Italic Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum: A Catalogue (Toronto, 1985), pp.44-45, no.B22, and pp.49-50, no.B32
Also Jette Christiansen & Nora M. Petersen, Catalogue Etruria II, Sculpture, Bronzes, Ceramics, Bucchero, Figure Decorated Ceramics, Complete Tomb Finds I. Tarquinia, II. Bologna, III.
Cerveteri, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen, 2017), pp.210-211, no.79
