Jar

This small, handleless jar was created to hold valuable liquids, such as perfumed oils. The surface is decorated with a painted stippling pattern, and brown glaze bands run around the short neck and base. The vessel is intact except for a small chip missing from the rim.

The jar was formerly believed to have been produced on Minoan Crete, and to imitate precious ostrich-eggshell vessels, examples of which have been found at sites in the Levant, Egypt, and the Aegean. However, the shape and stippling-style of decoration find close parallels with mainland Greek ceramics of the Late Helladic period, and on stylistic grounds the vessel can be dated to the first half of the fourteenth century B.C.