An unusual vase in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Eleni Zosi Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung, 124.2009 [2011]: 1-18

Abstract

In 2001, a clay kernos has come into the possession of the National Archaeological Museum along with other ancient artefacts. It was registered in the catalogues of the Vase Collection and has been given the inventory number NAM 29273· Its provenance and the circumstances of its finding are unknown. The fabric of the kernos is orange and coarse-grained, with several inclusions and the glaze, flaked in places, ranges from black to brown-black. The kernos consists of both wheel-made and hand-made parts. A horizontal, hollow, ring body is set on three black-glazed, almost conical feet of unequal height. An arched strap handle is attached to the ring. The basket handle divides the ring into two semicircles: one of these semi-ircles has attached on it three miniature vessels without bottoms: a hydria, a double kalathos and a jug. The other semicircle has two modelled birds on either side of the zoomorphic spout. The presence of decorative motifs found in Cretan pottery and the form of the zoomorphic spout suggest that the kernos should be dated to the early phase of Protogeometric B period (850-820 B.C.) and point to Crete as the most likely provenance, where it may be adding an important example to the unity of Cretan pottery and inspiration.

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