1962.01

Attic Geometric Tankard

Purchased. Ht (lip) 9cm; diam. 7.6cm.

The handle has been broken away and rejoined. The surface is somewhat worn, especially about the lip. Rather soft orange-buff clay with a few fine white and dark inclusions. The vessel has a short rounded body and tall concave neck with simple lip. A strap handle runs from the outer face of the lip to the shoulder, rising above the level of the lip. Flat base.

Brown to black paint. Within the lip are three bands and, on its top, groups of bars. On the outside of the lip is a lozenge chain between bands, then cross-hatched triangles; on the lower wall is another lozenge chain, then bands below. On the handle are stars between sets of three horizontal bands. The underside is undecorated.

Attic Late Geometric II B; later eighth century bc. The motif of hatched triangles is common on tankards and jugs of this period. Compare Kerameikos: Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen V, 1, pl. 97, inv. 327.

Although the vessel is conventionally named a tankard, it is perhaps more likely to have been a dipper or small jug.

Sotheby (London), Sale Cat., 17 December 1962, no. 159; J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U., Canberra, 1981 19.