Phoenician-style ewer

Vessels of similar form and construction have been excavated in Cyprus, Italy, and the Iberian Peninsula, with related ceramic examples from Cyprus and the Levant. The piriform shape of this vessel is divided into two sections by a narrow raised band. The convex lower body rests on a hollow ring foot above which the elegant neck gradually tapers into a trefoil lip. A three-ridged handle spouts from a palmette with tendrils and attaches the lower body to the lip. At the top of the handle the three ridges transform into three snake heads, the central one of which extends directly into the vessel. The closest parallel to this ewer is an example from Niebla in Spain, at the Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, which has looped snake heads at the top of the handle.

Credit: Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1955