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Material & Wares
Ceramics: Late Cypriot |
| The name Base Ring Ware comes from the base of the vessel, which is made in the shape of a ring, and is added on after completion of the body. The ware is handbuilt, can have paper-thin walls, and is made in a variety of shapes from carinated cups with high wishbone-shaped handles to tankards, jugs and juglets, and bowls. The monochrome fabric is fired to different shades of red and brown, often with a black core, and covered by a red, brown, or black slip which is usually burnished. It is often decorated with relief lines (Base Ring I), or painted with matt white linear decorations (Base Ring II), thought perhaps to imitate the white latex oozing from the cuts of an opium poppy head. |
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| The color of the ceramic as well as certain detailing indicates an attempt to copy or make metallic-looking objects in a less expensive medium. It is uniquely Cypriot, and as such, was extensively traded and highly valued in the ancient world. Its presence is diagnostic for the Late Cypriot period. | ||||
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Mycenaean pottery from the Aegean is wheelmade and technically of a very high standard; this applies to both ceramic vessels and figurines. The clay is usually buff to light orange in color, and is covered by a slip of the same or slightly lighter hue, with decoration applied in either a lustrous or matt paint which varies from black or dark brown to bright red and orange. This ware was also extensively traded throughout the Mediterranean, and to lands farther to the East. | |||
| The White Slip "milk bowl" is one of the most famous creations of the Late Cypriot Bronze Age. It, as Base Ring Ware, was very popular both locally and as an export item in the Mediterranean. The near-perfect hemispherical shape may indicate that a gourd was used as its mold; the characteristic white slip has been associated with mineral substances found with copper ores. These bowls have wishbone-shaped handles and painted decoration over the outside surface, both diagnostic features of this ware. This exterior decoration suggests that the bowls may have been hung so that the intricate patterns could be seen and appreciated. A production site has been excavated at Sanidhia Moutti tou Ayiou Serkiou, close to the copper mines of Kalavasos, and the clay source has also been identified. |
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Plain White Wheelmade Ware is the most characteristic locally-made ceramic beginning in the latter half of the Late Cypriot period. Initially, it was made using a combination of handbuilt and wheelmade techniques; later, it came to be entirely wheelmade, and along with Red Lustrous Ware (not found in this collection), was one of the earliest wheelmade wares on the island. It was used in the household and its bowls, jugs, and amphoroid kraters exhibit features of metal prototypes. An attempt to imitate them is evidenced by their very highly burnished surfaces. | |||
| White Shaved Ware is so-called because the bodies of the ceramic vessels are trimmed or pared down with a knife in characteristic cuts. The fabric is soft and sandy, and shapes are limited to small jugs and a few spindle-shaped bottles. The handles are fixed to the body by piercing the wall of the vessel (known as thrust-handles), carrying on a tradition diagnostic of the Middle Cypriot period. The fact that the jugs had pronounced pointed bases indicates that their most likely use was as dippers for larger containers. White Shaved Ware was a common local Cypriot product; as well as a popular export item, and has been found in a wide variety of locations around the ancient Mediterranean. |
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Proto-White Painted Ware came into use during the Proto-Geometric period at the end of the Late Cypriot, ca. 1125 BC. Although a local wheelmade product, in shape and decoration this pottery was mostly Greek in inspiration. Cypriot Proto-White Painted and Proto-Bichrome wares are generally of a higher quality both in manufacture and decoration than their sub-Minoan and sub-Mycenaean contemporaries. The pottery includes, for the most part, shapes and ornamentation of Aegean origin, but Levantine influences are also present. | |||
| Characteristic shapes include: jugs, sometimes with spouts, stemmed bowls, askoi (bird-shaped vases), kalathoi (small V-shaped bowls), and stirrup jars with exaggerated long necks and high handles. Proto-White Painted Ware was the forerunner of the principal ceramic types of the Cypriot Iron Age, White Painted and Bichrome Wares. | ||||
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Last Modified: 11/15/99