MA1959.1.1 Bichrome IV Ware amphora

Description

A Bichrome IV Ware amphora with tall ovoid body and low ring base. Tall broad straight-sided neck widening to broad flat mouth rim with ridge below. Opposed horizontal loop handles, circular in section, on shoulder. Buff clay with small black and white grits and thick buff slip, decorated in matt black and red paint. On interior two black bands below rim. On rim six groups of six to nine transverse parallel lines in black. On exterior broad red band on underside of rim, extending to ridge, above seven thin black horizontal bands. broad black band at neck base below five narrow black bands and broad red band bordered by black bands. In between neck frieze in black with central panel on each side comprising a full and two half checkered diamonds with four similar motifs in interstices, the whole framed to right and left by eleven vertical lines. On each side, above handles, eight vertical lines between solid semicircular excrescences, framed by tree motifs and fourteen to seventeen vertical lines. On shoulder, in a horizontal row, fifteen sets of three black concentric circles below two horizontal black bands. In handle zone wavy black line between horizontal red bands. On upper body eighteen sets of three black concentric circles above seven narrow black bands between broad black bands. On lower body two broad black bands. Solid black paint on handles, extending to mid-body.

Author: UNEMA, 1959.

Story

Meet "Object One," the first artefact with which the UNE Museum of Antiquities (UNEMA) began. It is a Geometric amphora from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus dating to 750-600 BC. This type of pottery is known as Cypro-Archaic I, Bichrome IV Ware. The name Bichrome Ware refers to the technique of applying red and black paint over a cream slip. Bichrome ware was traditionally decorated with geometric patterns including concentric circles, dots, and diamond and lotus motifs. These decorative elements are thought to have been influenced by other Cypriot artisan traditions including ivory carving, metal-working, and weaving. Amphora like these were usually produced using a potters' wheel. Bichrome Ware was thought to have originated in Palestine where it was first found by archaeologist Flinders Petrie. Neutron activation testing has subsequently shown that the pottery was created in Cyprus and exported around the Levant. This amphora is made from buff clay with small black and white grits and is decorated with matt black and red paint. Its decorations include vertical bands, horizontal parallel lines, half-chequered diamonds, and tree motifs. The amphora is whole and unbroken, although one side has been scuffed. It weighs approximately 13.5 kg.

Author: Bronwyn Hopwood, 2024.