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Earthenware bowls and other pottery items were produced locally in Roman North Africa after the Roman Empire expanded there and established ceramic production centers in the province called Africa-Proconsularis. Ceramics were shipped throughout the Empire on the same routes of their other exports from North Africa. Made using a wheel, this bowl is covered with…
Wing or ear cups (yushang), a term that describes its side flange-like additions to its ovoid body, appeared as early as the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BCE) made in lacquer and later from a variety of materials. Lacquerware cups were used as dining vessels used for rituals and ceremonies contain fragrances, food or wine; and the…
Hu vessels, first made in the Shang Dynasty is an ancient-pottery wine vessel whose body swells in the middle, flares into a narrow neck and often has a raised circular foot. Very popular during the Han dynasty, it was used as an ancestral tomb burial object (mingqi) to hold liquids and elixirs for the deceased…
Mingqi are ancient earthenware pottery items usually made using a bivalve mould and covered with a lead glaze that fired to a dark green. The lead in the glaze often combined with tomb dampness for centuries creating a chemical reaction changing its coloring into a lustrous and iridescent green seen here. Han mingqi were ancestral…
Artisans in the Roman Empire created varying local styles of terracotta figurines of gods and goddesses for placement on home shrines. This figure holding a jar represents Haroprates the ancient Greek god of silence and secrets. He may be an image of a royal and temple cult since he wears a double crown that symbolized…
This ancient-pottery juglet was created in the Holy Land and Levant during the Biblical Period likely under Herod the Great, king of ancient Judea or later in the Herodian Period (37BCE- 73CE). It is a terracotta earthenware juglet pouring vessel and utilitarian piece that held perfume or other costly oils, ointments or cosmetics. The globular…
The Biblical Period corresponds to the Middle to Late Bronze Age in the Holy Land (the Levant circa 2300-1200 BCE) when ancient pottery was made by molding wet clay into shapes (the coil construction method) and then finishing its shape by removing the clay’s excess moisture using the paddle-and-anvil technique) before firing. Made in Judea…
This Biblical Period ancient earthenware wine jug was made in the late Iron Age in the Holy Land of Judea (the Levant) about the time of the first Jewish Temple. A very high carinated piece, it was built using the coil construction method and the paddle and anvil technique. Like most pouring vessels, it was…
This ancient pottery lekanis is from Apulia in Magna Graecia, the Roman name for the South Italy coastal area colonized by the Greeks in the 6th century B.C.E. Greek settlers arrived with their Hellenic culture intact and had much influence on Italian civilization. A lekanis was a highly decorated low shallow bowl with close-fitting top…
This terracotta figurine from Alexandria in the Roman Egypt depicting a female holding a young child was probably placed in a home shrine to provide favors and protection. Although it is difficult to identify specific deities, this figure is probably a kourotrophos (meaning woman nurturing a child) –a female mortal or deity figurine with an…
An oenochoe or oinochoe is the Greek word for a wine jug and the name of an important category of Greek pottery created in many forms of which there are many variants copied and modified by cultures throughout the ancient world, especially by ancient pottery centers in the Africa Proconsularis province of Roman North Africa. As common…
This earthenware cup is called a beaker, a term used by archeologists to describe small cups without a handle and held in the hands similar to Japanese ceramic teacups that also warm one’s hands. Items like this were made in Africa Proconsularis, the Roman North Africa pottery center and distributed throughout the Roman Empire). Using…
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