On view
Ancient Mediterranean Art
Alabastron (flask) with two panthers and a hare,
ca. 625–600 BCE
Greek
Corinthian Period, ca. 625–535 BCE
2004-456
Animal-shaped vessels and vessels with painted representations of animals were produced and used across the ancient Mediterranean. Their widespread creation attests to a shared impulse to incorporate animals and nature into the world of humans. These elaborate and intricate vessels were used for ceremonial banquets and religious rituals, or in funerary activities. At times, it was believed that the use of these vessels could almost animate the creatures represented, making them present and involved in the unfolding events. The incorporation of vessels rep- resenting animals at these moments both connected the human and animal worlds and asserted the differences between these disparate realms.
Information
Title
Alabastron (flask) with two panthers and a hare
Dates
ca. 625–600 BCE
Medium
Ceramic
Dimensions
h. 10.6 cm, diam. 6.1 cm (4 3/16 x 2 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Paul Didisheim, Class of 1950, and Ricarda J. Didisheim, in memory of Helena Simkhovitch Didisheim and Vladimir G. Simkhovitch
Object Number
2004-456
Place Made
Europe, Greece, Corinth
Culture
Period
Materials
Successively in the collections of Vladimir G. Simkhovitch, Helena Simkhovitch Didisheim, and Paul Didisheim, Class of 1950; given to the Museum in 2004
- Wolf Rudolph and Adriana Calinescu, Ancient art from the V.G. Simkhovitch Collection, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Art Museum in association with Indiana University Press, 1988)., cat. no. 88; p. 106
- "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2004," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 64 (2005): p. 91-135., p. 102
