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Source Description
The low-relief grape bunches, leaves, and vines on the upper portion of this rhyton reference the wine that the vessel would have held. The lower portion is in the shape of a protome (the foreparts) of a horse, possibly in movement, with head turned and raised, its mouth slightly open. The folded legs of the horse possibly aided in balancing the vessel upright when it was not in use. This type of rhyton may have been used to aerate wine, which would have been poured into the conical neck and then flowed out of the small spout between the horse’s legs into a drinking vessel (or perhaps directly into the mouth of the drinker). The form especially recalls metal versions from contexts in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, where rhyta with protomai of horses, lions, bulls, stags, and sphinxes all appear. The slightly iridescent olive green glaze of the exterior is only partially obscured by accretions, while the interior is yellow, as with other lead-glazed vessels. The form and decoration of lead-glazed, mold-made vessels of the late Hellenistic to early Roman period may have been influenced by vessels made of metal, glass, and other ceramic relief wares. Sometimes linked to a type of ceramic vessel named in the Roman period “Rhosian ware” (rhosica vasa), the lead-glazed pottery vessels were made mostly in Tarsos, on the southeastern coast of Turkey, and elsewhere in Asia Minor, with the technology spreading to workshops in the Italian peninsula as well.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
40033
label
Rhyton with the Forepart of a Horse
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
6
Source metadata
id
40033
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Rhyton with the Forepart of a Horse
description
The low-relief grape bunches, leaves, and vines on the upper portion of this rhyton reference the wine that the vessel would have held. The lower portion is in the shape of a protome (the foreparts) of a horse, possibly in movement, with head turned and raised, its mouth slightly open. The folded legs of the horse possibly aided in balancing the vessel upright when it was not in use. This type of rhyton may have been used to aerate wine, which would have been poured into the conical neck and then flowed out of the small spout between the horse’s legs into a drinking vessel (or perhaps directly into the mouth of the drinker). The form especially recalls metal versions from contexts in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, where rhyta with protomai of horses, lions, bulls, stags, and sphinxes all appear. The slightly iridescent olive green glaze of the exterior is only partially obscured by accretions, while the interior is yellow, as with other lead-glazed vessels. The form and decoration of lead-glazed, mold-made vessels of the late Hellenistic to early Roman period may have been influenced by vessels made of metal, glass, and other ceramic relief wares. Sometimes linked to a type of ceramic vessel named in the Roman period “Rhosian ware” (rhosica vasa), the lead-glazed pottery vessels were made mostly in Tarsos, on the southeastern coast of Turkey, and elsewhere in Asia Minor, with the technology spreading to workshops in the Italian peninsula as well.
provenance
Dikran Kelekian, Paris and New York, [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [said to be from ""near Aleppo""]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, by purchase, 1914; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
2nd half 1st century BCE-1st century CE (Late Hellenistic-Roman Imperial)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
rhyta
cups
imageCount
6
pageCount
6
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
12
height
9
dimensionsRaw
H: 4 3/4 x W: 3 9/16 in. (12 x 9 cm)
Source extras
cul
Roman
med
terracotta, mold made; lead glazed
creator_ids
6191
collection_ids
ROM
exhibition_ids
3488
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
3321cc3759e13c96
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
dd8b7e369f1ea2ce
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
24530b44e89cbadb
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
4
type
photo
mediaId
a1f0dfc779c20473
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
5
type
photo
mediaId
05b7b449ea84eca9
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
6
type
photo
mediaId
0d39f4e7c82f82eb
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no