#aryballos

[arthistoryanimalia]

Oil flask (aryballos) in the form of a seated monkey

, c. 560 BCE

Terracotta, 9.5 x 5.1 cm (3 3/4 x 2 in.)

on display at Harvard Art Museums 1960.290

“In the 6th century BCE, workshops in…the multicultural contact zone…produced an array of faience flasks combining Egyptian & Greek elements [and] motifs….Whimsical monkey-shaped containers were popular in Italy.”

[heracliteanfire]

Perfume bottles.

Kamiros, Rhodes, Greece, ca 550BCE 

[I think they’re all from the same place, it’s hard to work out from the BM website]

(via aryballos | British Museum)

[lionofchaeronea]

Ancient Greek aryballos in the form of the conjoined heads of two women. Artist unknown; ca. 460 BCE. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[glitchy-creations]

Another piece is done and I love this little guy!

This is an “early aryballos” (according to the book I’ve been using for reference) that I painted Athena’s owl on! I think it came out super cute 🥰

This piece is primarily wheel thrown with the handle being hand built. For the rim I just threw a tiny ring on the wheel and attached it by hand for the sake of my own sanity.

This piece is made with the same engobe and Amaco glaze combo as the others.

Bonus: New group picture!

[romegreeceart]

Corinthian Aryballos

7th century BCE

British Museum

London, June 2022

[humanitarianhistory]

"Terracotta Aryballos (Perfume Vase) in the form of a sandaled right foot", Rhodian, Mid-Sixth Century BCE

Getting a Footing

I figured that for my first post I might as well address that yes, my icon is a foot. Well, it's not a foot in a "c'est n'est pas une pipe" kind of way. This beautiful object is a 6th-century BCE Aryballos, a specific type of Greek vase for holding oils, mostly perfumes, from the island of Rhodes. These vases come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, depicting scenes, animals, geometric patterns, or even, human figures.

The sandaled foot caught my attention the first time I ever visited the Met Museum. With my background being in Costume Design, my first immediate thought was "This is fantastic costume research". Very rarely do you get a three-dimensional depiction of clothing from ancient times in such considerably great shape. What I also found interesting is that this is not the only foot-shaped Aryballos in the Met's Collection, there was another, different in design, but also was an excellent depiction of Ancient Greek footwear. It reminded me of modern examples of foot-wear-shaped perfume bottles such as Carolina Herrera's Good Girl collection, pictured below, a parallel that greatly entertains me. Finding those commonalities with the ancients is one of the things I love most about archaeology and it poses the idea that maybe the ancient Greeks weren't unlike ourselves.

I was doing some reading on Ancient Greek perfumes in preparation for this post and came across an article by the Museum of Perfume Paris in which the author shares the story of Phaon, an old, ugly sailor, who was gifted a scented ointment by the goddess Aphrodite. This ointment when applied made Phaon young and beautiful, and any woman who saw him fell in love with him. Phaon's story is an interesting explanation of the romantic powers of perfume in Greek mythology, but it wasn't the only one. In the Illiad, song XIV, Helen applies perfume with the hopes of winning back her husband after the events of the Trojan War. It made me wonder if this Aryballos could have been a gift between lovers. Maybe as a way to remember their love or memorialize the beauty of their betrothed. Many Aryballos in the Met and others' collections are shaped like the helmeted heads of warriors, perhaps gifts for their loved ones as they went off to war.

It is important to note that perfumed oils were used by both men and women, and for a variety of occasions including religious ceremonies, weddings, funerals, and even athletic competitions. With that in mind, Aryballoi, in general, certainly uphold and project typical Ancient Greek values, such as class, gender, faith, and bravery, but I am curious as to the specific story behind the sandaled foot. Was it simply a display of socioeconomic status? Or perhaps it once stood as a reminder of love and admiration (The romantic in me likes to imagine so). I will leave you with these thoughts and I am interested to hear your own opinions.

Other Aryballoi in the Met's Collection. Left: Helmeted Soldier Aryballos, Right: Sandaled Foot Aryballos

Carolina Herrera's Good Girl Collection, Footwear Inspired Packaging

Read more about Greek Aryballoi and Ancient Perfumery below:

"Divine Scents in Ancient Greece" by Isabelle Bardiès, Musee du Parfum

"Perfumery from Myth to Antiquity" by Dimitra Voudouri & Christine Tesseromatis, International Journal of Medicine and Pharmacy

"The Greek Sense of Smell: Olfactory Perception and the Sociocultural Roles of Perfume in Antiquity" by Grainne Louise Grant, University of Exeter

[thewordygreenlion]

Greek Pottery: Soldier-Head Aryballos (E. Greek, 600-575BCE)

[quo-usque-tandem]

Aryballos - Greece, 6th century B.C.E.

[blueiscoool]

Roman Glass Aryballos (oil bottle) 1st–3rd century CE

Blown glass. Dimensions: H.: 2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm).

[duringandafter]

Faience aryballos (oil flask) in the form of a hedgehog,  6th century BCE

[nobrashfestivity]

Unknown, Rhodian Terracotta aryballos (perfume vase) in the form of a hedgehog mid-6th century BCE Overall: 2 3/4 x 4 1/4 x 2 3/8in. (7 x 10.8 x 6cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[delicatuscii-wasbella102]

Corinthian Aryballos in the Shape of an Owl, Corinth, Greece, Circa 640 BC

[thoodleoo]

Have u seen the penis aryballos at the met?? Life changing

love everything about this ask. the pink font. the focus on a single phallus shaped aryballos in a single museum. "life changing." i need every one of my asks to be like this from now on. i have seen it btw and i have to agree

[lionofchaeronea]

A physician treats a patient. Attic red-figure aryballos, name-vase of the Clinic Painter; 470s BCE. Now in the Louvre. Photo credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons.

[the-puffinry]

this thing has me in stitches.

(East Greek plastic aryballos, East Greek, ca. 610/600-570 BC)

[glitchy-creations]

Did two quick black and red figure pottery inspired designs b/c I was bored.

The first one is an odyssey inspired design I’m using for a ceramic plaque (I’ve been making Greek pottery for an independent study project).

The second one is this owl design I discovered while looking up Athena pottery examples. I found like three or four pictures of skyphoi with this owl design and I just thought it was really cute 🤧 I have an aryballos with this pattern as well as a mini plaque just for fun.