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Work Pyxis with a lid in the form of an Oinochoe
Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities: The Origins of Greek Art, the Bronze Age, and the Geometric Style (3200-720 BC)
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Cratère-pyxis géométrique moyen

© 1993 RMN / Hervé Lewandowski
Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities
The Origins of Greek Art, the Bronze Age, and the Geometric Style (3200-720 BC)
This large pyxis seems likely to have been used as a cinerary urn rather than a simple casket.
The perfect sphere of the belly is flanked by two handles. The surface of the vase is covered with geometric patterns (meanders, hounds-teeth, zigzags and chevrons) arranged in zones separated by lines. The area between the handles is decorated with a hatched meander flanked by two horses. Relegated to a second plane, other animals – a stag and perhaps some lions or dogs – feature beneath the handles.
Harmonious linear decoration
The "Proto-Geometric" style appeared around the middle of the eleventh century to the tenth century BC (1050–900 BC), marking a break with Minoan and Mycenaean representations. Vases were decorated with concentric circles, semicircles and wavy and straight lines, in brilliant black glaze. The painted decoration usually occupied the zone around the shoulder, and part of the belly.
Stylistic refinement
This refined and often austere style reached its peak in
Early figurative scenes
The contiguous linear motifs are occasionally broken, as here, by the isolated figure of a horse (an extremely widespread motif and symbol of aristocracy). Later, representations of horses and men took on a greater significance, with figurative scenes appearing during the late Geometric period (circa 775 BC): funerals, chariot processions, sailing ships and naval battles.
Vases with geometric decoration were produced in several regions (Corinth, Boeotia, Argos, Crete and the Cyclades), generally with homogeneous decoration and no apparent hierarchical order to the motifs. The most common forms are the
Bibliography
Martine Denoyelle, Chefs-d'œuvres de la céramique grecque dans les collections du Louvre, 1994, Réunion des musées nationaux, p. 16, n° 3J.N. Coldstream, Greek Geometric Pottery, 1968, MethuenJ. Boardman, Aux origines de la peinture sur vase en Grèce, 1999, Thames & HudsonTechnical description
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Cratère-pyxis géométrique moyen
Vers 800 avant J.-C.
Provenance : cimetière du Dipylon (Athènes)
Athènes
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H. : 55,50 cm. ; D. : 38,20 cm.
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Collection Fauvel, 1817 , 1817
A 514
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Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities
Sully wing
1st floor
Galerie Campana I
Room 40
Vitrine 21
Practical information
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