The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 20, 2025
Polychrome Oinochoe (Wine Jug): Deer and Lions (?)
c. 600–575 BCE
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
Four animals encircle this jug—two grazing deer and two predators, perhaps lions.Description
The animal frieze decorating the widest part of this round-bodied wine jug recalls black-figure pottery imported to Etruria from Greece (especially Corinth). The shape itself, with trefoil mouth and raised handle to facilitate pouring, also resembles Greek models, as do the simple tongues and rays above and below. But the polychromed animals—brightly painted with added white and reddish-purple—identify the vase as Etruscan, likely made at Vulci. The two deer seem to be grazing on stylized plants, unconcerned about the unusual animals pursuing them; these may be lions with horns and long tongues.- ?-1931Dr. Jacob Hirsch, New York, NY, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art1931-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive. BAPD 1001483 www.beazley.ox.ac.ukHanfmann, G.M.A. 1940. "A Polychrome Vase," Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum, vol. 9.3. pp. 44-49 (mentioned on p. 46, illustrated on p. 48, fig. 5).Brown, William Llewellyn. The Etruscan Lion. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960. p. 59, no. 15.Szilágyi, János György. Ceramica etrusco-corinzia figurata. Firenze: L.S. Olschki, 1992. pp. 82-83, no. 5; Tav. XXIc-e.Boulter, C. G., Jenifer Neils, and Gisela Walberg. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1971. p. 27, plate 41,2 & 41,2 www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
- Materials of the Artist. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-December 12, 1958).
- {{cite web|title=Polychrome Oinochoe (Wine Jug): Deer and Lions (?)|url=false|author=|year=c. 600–575 BCE|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1931.425