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Profile view. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)
Corinthian Transitional Alabastron
- Date
- Ca. 630-590 BC, Lydian
- Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
- NoEx70.003
- Material
- Ceramic
- Object Type
- Pottery
- Pottery Shape
- Alabastron
- Pottery Ware
- Corinthian Transitional
- Pottery Attribution
- Site
- Bin Tepe
- Findspot
- Said to be found at Bin Tepe, the royal cemetery across the Hermus River, near the S shore of the Gygean Lake
- Description
Late in TR or early in EC. Complete and in good condition. There are three concentric circles around the mouth, a single line of glaze on the side of the lip, four horizontal strokes on the handle, and long irregular tongues on the neck. On the body, four bands of glaze alternate with three bands of double false checkerboard pattern, executed hastily. On the underside of the base are three concentric lines of glaze. Glaze: dark brown and only moderately shiny, misfired to orange on one side. Some incrustations appear on the glossy exterior. Clay: hard and smooth. Light orange. Munsell no. 7.5 YR 7/4 (pink).
The only complete Corinthian alabastron found at Sardis, its excellent condition suggests a grave context. The careless checkerboard pattern places it late in TR or early in EC. For similar decoration on the top of an earlier, round aryballos, see Cor 43, dated LPC.
- Dimensions
- H. 0.07; diam. 0.039; diam. of mouth 0.029
- Comments
- Cf. Anderson, “Old Smyrna” 145, pl. 24, no. 89, an alabastron with added lines of red, dated TR or EC; CVA Great Britain 9, Oxford 2, III.C., pl. 1, nos. 40, 41 (G.B. 384); CVA France 14, Louvre 9, III.C.a, pl. 29, nos. 3, 5. The Sardis piece is without the added red of the pieces in Smyrna, Oxford, and the Louvre. See also Ephesos XII:1, 32, pl. 18, K88, a piriform aryballos dated LPC; and 18, pl. 8, K12, an alabastron dated TR or EC. The type has a long life.
- See Also
- Bibliography
- Author
- JS