Leseprobe

20 Pyxis Attic, c. 760 BCE, Workshop of Tübingen 1087 Clay; height 14.6 cm Acquired from Wolfgang Job, Laurion, in 1900 Inv. no. ZV 1818 Pyxides with horses set above the knob on the lid were found in Athens and Attica primarily in women’s tombs. They were used in domestic and cult contexts to store valuable objects. The horse was a status symbol, but also carried special religious significance as an animal sacred to Poseidon. A wide frieze of triglyphs and metopes framed by ornamental bands runs around the flanks of the shallow vessel. The metopes are decorated with alternat- ing hatched swastikas and leaf-shaped crosses. The flat lid and the body of the horse are also adorned with rings and dotted lines. The horse’s eyes are modelled. The strict order and balance of the geometric decoration, which covers the entire vessel, is typical of early Greek ceramics, and gives the Geometric period its name. This style flourished in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE. The horse on the lid is an early example of sculptural depiction, which was still rare in this period.  | kk