Triple-body vase

Ultima modifica 26 ottobre 2023

The vase has a unique base from which three stems branch off holding three cups. The cups have a fairly light flaring at the point of maximum expansion.

The decoration of the cups has a Greek pattern called "continuous meander" because it is extended over the entire circumference.  
The meander is in fact a synonym of Greek, the classic decoration that we all know and still very popular today. 
The second row of decoration, lower, has an ornament called wolf teeth inside two parallel lines. 
A painted zigzag ornament is also added to the engraved decoration.
The decorations of the cups were made by engraving using wooden slats and then filled with red paste. The colour contrast gives an effect of great elegance and sobriety to the entire artefact.
The dough is buccheroide. Bucchero is a type of black and glossy ceramic, rather thin and light, which over time will become a typical feature of the Etruscans to craft vases.
Also in this case the vase has been modeled with the technique of the "colombino", which provides for the creation of long clay cords rolled one over the other and then smoothed until the complete uniformity of the surface. This type of cups may also have been moulded. On the foot there are holes that can be interpreted as an old restoration.ù
The vase is part of the rich funerary kit of Tomb  nr 21 that housed a very high ranking Picen woman. 
In the tomb there also were numerous objects of ornament, such as earrings, necklaces, fibulas, pendants and armillae or bracelets. Bone and amber objects were found there together with clay vases, some of them also with fine decorations, others in bucchero, the black-glossy color of the ceramic.

Dating: sixth century BC