The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Italo-Geometric Bird Askos (Oil Vessel): Hunter (Herakles?) and Stag

Italo-Geometric Bird Askos (Oil Vessel): Hunter (Herakles?) and Stag

c. 700 BCE

attributed to Bisenzio Class

Overall: 33.5 x 15.5 cm (13 3/16 x 6 1/8 in.); Diameter of foot: 11.9 cm (4 11/16 in.)
Location: 102D Pre-Roman

Did You Know?

This askos may feature the earliest known representation of Herakles's third labor, the Keryneian hind.

Description

This bird-shaped askos (oil vessel), with a tall filling spout and a pierced beak for pouring, perhaps held perfumed oil for a funerary function. Although the shape likely stems from Italian tradition, the abundantly painted geometric decoration, covering nearly every available surface, derives originally from Greece. Thus scholars have suggested that an immigrant Greek potter working in Etruria may have made the vessel. The sole narrative scene shows a man with a spear leading an antlered animal. If not an anonymous hunter, this could be the earliest known representation of the hero Herakles performing his third labor: capturing the golden-antlered Keryneian hind, or female deer.
  • Said to have been found at Vulci
    Norbert Schimmel (1905-1990), New York, NY
    1993-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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    Von Troja bis Amarna, Ägyptischen Museum, Berlin, Germany, (18 March-28 May 1978); Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (24 June-3 September 1978); Prähistorischen Staatssammlung, Munich, (28 September 1978-6 January 1979).
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  • {{cite web|title=Italo-Geometric Bird Askos (Oil Vessel): Hunter (Herakles?) and Stag|url=false|author=Bisenzio Class|year=c. 700 BCE|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1993.1