Plemochoe, Greece, 550-500 BC
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This glazed terracotta Plemochoe is decorated with an understated pattern of radial strokes and dots all around the unglazed rim. It closely resembles #487, but this one is 14% less dense, and its dot pattern is arranged in a staggered manner over two rows. Attic Greece, end of the sixth century BC. Plemochoe “Literally, ‘an earthen vessel for water’; hence the name plêmochoai given to the last day of the Eleusinian festival, when this kind of vessel was used for pouring out water.” (Peck 1898, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, in http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/) “. . . An important feature on this vessel is its deeply turned-in rim, probably intended to prevent liquids from spilling. . . Perfume and oil were both used commonly in bathing, and perfume was especially significant in religious ceremonies. Vessels of this shape frequently are depicted on vase painting, where it occurs among the offerings brought by women to the grave. For an example on a pyxis see: Staatliche Museen, Berlin, no. 3373. From this evidence it is safe to say that the function of this vessel was to contain perfume, for both personal and ritual use. Terra cotta examples occur from the late sixth century, and last for quite some time, as it frequently is represented on vase paintings which date from the second half of the fifth century B.C. There are also examples of vessels with this shape worked in marble. . . Athenaios, 11.496 a, b, defines the plemochoe as ‘a terra cotta vessel shaped like a top standing on a steady foot.’ Athenaios continues and states that it was used during the Eleusinian Mysteries when, on the last day ‘they filled two plemochoai and set them up one to the east, one to the west, and then overturned them, saying mystic words as they did so.’” (Crane, Gregory R. ed. The Perseus Project, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, August, 2004) |
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