The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 25, 2024
Face Urn
25–50 CE
Diameter: 19.5 cm (7 11/16 in.); Overall: 19 x 20 cm (7 1/2 x 7 7/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1992.125
Location: 103 Roman
Did You Know?
The anthropomorphized decoration of this vase may have been an attempt to ward off evil spirits.Description
The work of Roman potters is very different from that of their Greek predecessors. Greek clay had allowed potters to throw thin-walled ceramics. Slips (paint) made from this clay had permitted painters to draw complicated scenes and figures with infinite care. As the Roman empire grew to include Germany and Britain, local clays found there were better for producing heavier pottery with three-dimensional decoration like the vases shown here. These jars—decorated with a human face (1992.125), animals (1992.126), a feather pattern (1992.183), a wheat pattern (1992.124), and vertical ribs (1992.127.a) were probably filled with foods or liquids and given either as gifts to an elaborate burial or as offerings to a god's shrine.- Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38-79. Reproduced: p. 41; Mentioned: p. 41, 65 www.jstor.org
- Selected Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 9-April 11, 1993).CMA 1993: "Selected Acquisitions," Bull., 80 (Feb. 1993), p. 65, no. 5, repr. p 41
- {{cite web|title=Face Urn|url=false|author=|year=25–50 CE|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1992.125