Jar with geometric designs
Cyprus, perhaps Kourion
about 750-600 BC
Unglazed earthenware, made in sections and assembled, covered with buff slip and painted
Museum no. 222-1883
The jar, used for storing wine or water, was made in two halves. They were thrown on a potter's wheel and 'luted' together with slip (liquid clay).
Cyprus was colonised first from Greece, from 1500 BC, and then from Phoenicia (modern Lebanon). In 709 BC it came under Assyrian control. The refined decoration reflects this cultural mix and the high social status of the jar's owners.