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Source Description
A common shape in the Late Geometric period, the pitcher often attains large dimensions, offering the painter multiple zones for decoration. Here, standing leaves encircle the shoulder, while the neck and body bear wide bands with alternating squares of swans and swastikas. Also known as a hooked cross, the swastika appears frequently as a decorative motif in Greek Geometric pottery, without any clear meaning. The swans, though somewhat abstracted to modern eyes, likely represent one of many waterfowl species native to Greece.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
106153
label
Geometric Pitcher: Swans
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
106153
contentType
object
title
Geometric Pitcher: Swans
description
A common shape in the Late Geometric period, the pitcher often attains large dimensions, offering the painter multiple zones for decoration. Here, standing leaves encircle the shoulder, while the neck and body bear wide bands with alternating squares of swans and swastikas. Also known as a hooked cross, the swastika appears frequently as a decorative motif in Greek Geometric pottery, without any clear meaning. The swans, though somewhat abstracted to modern eyes, likely represent one of many waterfowl species native to Greece.
date
c. 740–730 BCE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79892394
creators
377494
genreSpecific
Ceramic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 36.2 cm (14 1/4 in.)
cul
Greek, Attic
accession
1924.259
Source extras
tec
ceramic
tombstone
Geometric Pitcher: Swans, c. 740–730 BCE. Attributed to Swan Painter (Greek, Attic, Late Geometric Ib-IIa). Ceramic; overall: 36.2 cm (14 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1924.259
collection
GR - Greek
didYouKnow
The stylized swans lend their name to the otherwise anonymous decorator of this vase.
citations
citation
Beazley Archive. n.d. <em>Beazley Archive Pottery Database</em>. Oxford: Beazley Archive.
page_number
BAPD 1001465
citation
The Brummer Gallery Records. Cloisters (Museum), n.d.
page_number
P542
citation
Hubbell, H. M., and William S. Anderson. <em>Yale Classical Studies,</em> Volume Sixteen. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1961.
page_number
pp. 78-79, 153, fig. 112
citation
Coldstream, J. N. <em>Greek Geometric Pottery: A Survey of Ten Local Styles and Their Chronology.</em> London: Methuen, 1968.
page_number
pp. 70-71
citation
Boulter, C. G., Jenifer Neils, and Gisela Walberg. <em>Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum.</em> Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971.
page_number
p. 3, pl. I, 3-4
citation
Coldstream, J. N. <em>Greek Geometric Pottery: A Survey of Ten Local Styles and Their Chronology</em>. Exeter, Devon: Bristol Phoenix Press, 2008.
page_number
p. 70, XI.2
creditline
Dudley P. Allen Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:42:39.362000
sourceId
106153
dept
Greek and Roman Art
coll
GR - Greek
med
ceramic
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
ea426c429c41bbcd