© N.P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 141
Kylix
clay
Cypriot
Cypro-Geometric III period
900-750 BC
H.: 10,5 cm / D.(max).: 14.5 cm
Unknown provenance
Description
Although kylix was the main drinking vessel in ancient Greece, in Cyprus it was not a common shape. The illustrated example is unusually large and may have had ritual function. It is decorated with plain geometric motifs in red and black ("Bichrome Ware"), including isolates swastikas.
© N.P.Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 597
Amphora
clay
Cypriot
Cypro-Geometric III period
900-750 BC
H.: 44.5 cm / D.(max.): 32 cm / D.rim: 17 cm
Unknown provenance
Description
This large vessel, most probably of funerary use, belongs to a special group of amphoras decorated with almost identical motifs in the "Bichrome" style. The decoration consists of multiple crosshatched diamonds arranged in reserved bands and friezes. These amphoras are thought to be the products of a specialized workshop in the eastern part of Cyprus.
Amphoras were extensively used as cinerary urns in the Early Iron Age, when cremation became a common practice. More often, however, they were used for jar-burials - a practice known in earlier periods, too - especially for kids. Both customs are widely attested In the ancient cemeteries of Salamis and Amathus, which date between the 11th and 8th c BC.
© N.P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 600a
Lekythion
clay
Cypriot
Cypro-Archaic I period
750-600 BC
H.: 10.5 cm / D.(max.): 7 cm
Unknown provenance
Description
Small lekythoi were used mainly as containers for perfumed oils. They are found both on domestic contexts and in shrines, where they were deposited as offerings. The illustrated example is decorated with images of fish and dates to the very beginning of the Cypro-Archaic period. It belongs to "Bichrome ware", a pottery style characterised by painted decoration on bright black and red colours upon a white slip.
Figured representation are rare in Cypriot pottery of the Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods. As a rule, vases were decorated with plain linear motifs. The few example which bear figured scenes depict animals, birds and fish, but it is not clear whether these representations carried any symbolic meaning or were simply decorative. As for the fish - the decoration of this vase - we know that in Near Eastern religion it was associated with the goddess Astarte as a symbol of life and its source, the water of life. It is possible that similar associations were made in Cyprus - where Astarte was worshipped, too, in that period.
© N.P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 155
Barrel-shaped jug
clay
Cypriot
Cypro-Archaic I period
750-600 BC
H.: 30 cm / D.(max.): 31 cm
Unknown provenance
Description
Barrel-shaped vases occur throughout the Archaic period and are characteristic creations of Cypriot pottery. They are considered to be products of workshops in the region of Salamis and of Kition, or in northeastern Cyprus (Karpass Peninsula). This example is decorated in the "Bichrome Style" with concentric circles, the hallmark of Cypriot pottery in the Archaic period.
Barrel-shaped vases were made in a wide range of sizes. The smallest examples are the size of lekythoi and were obviously used as perfume flasks. The larger varieties, such as the one illustrated, were most probably for storing and transporting liquids, such as wine and olive oil. Because these vases are usually found in graves, it is surmised that their contents also served as offerings to the dead.
© N.P.Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 628
Trefoil-mouthed oenochoe
clay
Cypriot
Cypro-Archaic I period
750-600 BC
H.: 14.5 cm / D.(max): 9 cm
Unknown provenance
Description
Vases decorated with concentric circles, painted using a multiple brush, are the hallmark of Cypriot pottery in early historical times. This oinochoe features pictorial decoration in added white on the shoulder (a boar), which places it in the variety of "Bichrome Red Ware", a pottery style in the western part of the island.
The luxurious appearance of these vases - and possibly also their precious content (wine?, perfumes?) - seems to justify their wide distribution both inside Cyprus and beyond. Comparable oinochoai, either imports or local imitations, dating from the 8th and 7th c. BC, have come to light at various sites in the Eastern Mediterranean, from Cilicia and northern Syria to Rhodes and Crete. This wide diffusion is incontrovertible proof of Cyprus's extensive network of trading relations with other Eastern Mediterranean lands during the Archaic period.
© N.P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 31bis
Trefoil-mouthed oinochoe
clay
Cypriot
Cypro-Archaic I period
750-600 BC
H.: 37 cm / D.(max.): 25.5 cm
Unknown provenance
Description
Vases decorated with concentric circles (painted using a multiple brush) are the hallmark of Cypriot pottery in early historical times. The illustrated oinochoe has a central rossete decorated with added white paint, a characteristic feature of the "Bichrome Red Ware", a popular pottery style in the western part of the Cyprus.
The luxurious appearance of vases decorated in that manner - and possibly also their precious content (wine?, perfumes?) - seems to justify their wide distribution both inside Cyprus and beyond. Comparable oinochoai, either imports or local imitations, dating from the 8th and 7th c. BC, have come to light at various sites in the Eastern Mediterranean, from Cilicia and northern Syria to Rhodes and Crete. This wide diffusion is incontrovertible proof of Cyprus's extensive network of trading relations with other Eastern Mediterranean lands during the Archaic period.
© N. P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th. N. Zintilis Collection, no. 666
Statuette of a male figure
limestone
Cypriot
Cypro-Classical I period
440-430 BC
H.: 38 cm / W.: 15 cm
From Cyprus, Famagusta
Description
Between 475 and 435 BC, Cyprus was in close political and cultural contact with mainland Greece, which led - among others - to the emulation of Greek models in sculpture. This statuette of a beardless young man holding an olive branch - and probably a bowl on his right hand - bears close resemblance to votive statuettes from the sanctuary at the site of Golgoi in the south-eastern part of the island. The rather poor sculptural details suggest that such kind of statuettes was mass produced. They were offered to sanctuaries of male deities, such as Αdonis, Apollo and the great god in Salamis.
© N. P. Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th. N. Zintilis Collection, no. 348bis
Head of a youth
limestone
Cypriot
Cypro-Classical II period
4th c. BC
H.: 27cm / W.: 20cm
Unknown provenance
Description
This limestone head of a beardless youth is an outstanding example of sculpture in the later phase of the Cypro-Classical period. The back surface is rough, indicating that the head comes most probably from a votive or a funerary relief.
The facial features, the hairstyle and the introspective expression refer directly to Lysippian models of Greek sculpture in the 4th c. BC and are strongly reminiscent of the terracotta statues found in the cenotaph of Nikokreon, the last king of Salamis, before its conquest by the Ptolemies. The piece is of such exceptional quality and craftsmanship that it can be considered the work of a Greek sculptor or even a Greek import.
During the 5th and 4th c, BC, the Cypriot workshops turned towards the major artistic centres of Classical Greece, particularly Attica, and endeavoured to assimilate Greek currents and styles, yet retaining several local iconographic traditions (for example, the Cypriots never adopted the nudity of the Greek statues). Nonetheless, Cypriot sculpture did not succeed in competing with Greek and frequently prosperous Cypriot citizens preferred statues and reliefs imported from Greece.
© N.P.Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 358
Reclining male figure
clay
Cypriot
Cypro-Classical II period
4th c. BC
H.: 54 cm / L.: 38 cm / W.: 18 cm
From Cyprus, Polis Chrysochous (ancient Marion)
Description
The male bearded figure, wearing a himation and with wreath on the head, reclines upon a rectangular couch, propped up by pillows. The discovery of similar statuettes, either of terracotta or stone, in the entrance passages (dromoi) of 4th c. BC tombs at Marion prompts the interpretation of these objects as funerary offerings. The figure is identified with the dead, probably represented as a symposiast since in the missing left hand he perhaps held a cup containing "pharmakon", that is the wine that brought immortality. Alternatively, the hand may have held a flower (lotus?), whose perfume ensured the deceased's happiness in the Nether World.
The dead participating as a symposiast in a funerary banquet was a popular subject in Eastern mortuary iconography and is also encountered in Greece.
The illustrated statuette is the product of an important workshop at Marion, the provenance of other reclining and enthroned figures with mould-made faces, wheel-made limbs and hollow bodies; frequently, the decoration is embellished with polychromy. Statuettes in honour of the dead were expensive and their quality most probably reflected the status of the deceased in the local society.
© N.P.Goulandris Foundation - Museum of Cycladic Art
Th.N. Zintilis Collection, no. 771A
Enthroned female figure
clay
Cypriot
Cypro-Classical II period
400-325 BC
H.: 45 cm / W.: 22 cm / Th.: 32 cm
From Cyrpus, Chrysochous (ancient Marion)
Description
Statuette of an ethroned female figure; head is missing. The figure is dressed in a chiton with large folds and a himation, which covers the entire body. Her right arm is bent under the himation. The left hand rests on her thigh and must have originally held a flower or an object.
The stattuete comes from ancient Marion, where similar clay or stone scultures are frequently found in front of tombs entrances. They were meant to represent the deceased in a rather idealized way.
