Skyphos Decorated with Birds and Vegetal Motifs in Relief

The decoration of this skyphos is rendered in high, sharp relief and consists of repeating groups of acanthus leaves grouped with vertical olive leaves separated by rosettes; the relief decoration encroaches on the raised bands at the bottom of the cup but not those at the top. On one side of the bowl, a bird appears on each end of the decoration, while on the other side, a rosette appears on each end of the decoration. The two ring handles are intact, as are the volute-shaped thumb plates above them. The lustrous bright and dark green glaze of the exterior is well preserved aside from some minor dirt accretions, while the interior of the vessel is a low-luster dark yellow and intact. The skyphos has a low ring foot.

The form and decoration of lead-glazed, mold-made vessels of the late Hellenistic to early Roman period may have been influenced by vessels made of metal, glass, and other ceramic relief wares. Sometimes linked to a type of ceramic vessel named in the Roman period “Rhosian ware” (rhosica vasa), the lead-glazed pottery vessels were made mostly in Tarsos, on the southeastern coast of Turkey, and elsewhere in Asia Minor, with the technology spreading to workshops in the Italian peninsula as well.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Dikran Kelekian, Paris and New York, [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [as from "near Aleppo"]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, by purchase, 1922; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.