Pitcher (oinochoe)

Black glaze showing patches of brown, repainted. Designs in modern cream-colored glaze paint. About neck, dotted sprays of leaves with two hanging branches, and from center, suspended by two threads, mask of woman's head with two streamers below and details in red paint. Below this is a round disk with traces of yellow decoration. Top of handle ends in head of animal. (lion) ITALIAN VASE PAINTING in ITALY, #118 (31.143) Oinochoe (shape 3) Related to the Dotted-spray Group (Webster and Green) about 340-330 B.C. All of the decoration in white appears to be modern, but the artist may have been following an original design. On the neck are a white wreath with pendant sprays and a female mask hanging from a cord. On the body below is a large white disk, badly eroded. Compare the plastic lion's head and painted mask on Lecce 3572: Bernardini, Vasi, pl. 37, 6. For masks on Gnathian vases, see T.B.L. Webster, JHS 71 (1951), pp. 222-232; idem, AntK3 (1960), pp. 30-36.