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Lot Essay
During the Early Iron Age in Greece, oinochoai were typically found in funerary contexts, as one of a variety of vessels associated with eating and drinking that were included as grave gifts. This shape was used for decanting wine and water and was often found with amphorae, cups and other vessels to fulfill this drinking function, possibly for a graveside feast or extinguishing the pyre. The placement of drinking vessels in the grave mirrors Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Egyptian and Canaanite burial practices and the characterization of the dead as thirsty in the Mediterranean and the Near East.
The imagery on this vessel further reinforces the funerary context and is common in this period. For similar depictions of women pulling their hair see the Attic krater from the Dipylon cemetery in Athens, fig. 16, p. 87 in Langdon, ed., From Pasture to Polis: Art in the Age of Homer; for an oinochoe with similar geometric ornament, see no. 33, p. 114 in Langdon, op cit.
The imagery on this vessel further reinforces the funerary context and is common in this period. For similar depictions of women pulling their hair see the Attic krater from the Dipylon cemetery in Athens, fig. 16, p. 87 in Langdon, ed., From Pasture to Polis: Art in the Age of Homer; for an oinochoe with similar geometric ornament, see no. 33, p. 114 in Langdon, op cit.