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Plastic jug in the form of a mouse
Greek, South Italian
Late Classical Period
mid 4th century B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Italy, Campania
Medium/Technique
Ceramic
Dimensions
7 x 13.3 cm (2 3/4 x 5 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of H. P. Kidder
Accession Number80.588
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
Catalogue Raisonné
Vase-Painting in Italy (MFA), no. 095.
DescriptionThe mouse is painted a lustrous black, with palmettes on each haunch and a grapevine on the back in added white (the leaves and grapes white; the vine itself incised). White is also used for the eyes. The eyebrows, whiskers, and other details are incised.
Its classification here as Campanian is no more than tentative.
ITALIAN VASE PAINTING, #95 (80.588)
Plastic Mouse
Mid-4th century B.C.
The mouse is painted a lustrous black, with palmettes on each haunch and a grapevine on the back in added white (the leaves and grapes white; the vine itself incised). White is also used for the eyes. The eyebrows, whiskers, and other details are incised.
Compare London G 163, which has a ring handle like a guttus and a pointed spout (Heldring, Sicilian, p. 108, no. 5, pl. 36.6) Heldring places the London mouse among the fourth-century South Italian successors to the plastic mice of fifth-century Sicily (e.g. cat. no. 106). The lack of a narrow, tapering spout on this mouse, or indeed of any secondary aperture for pouring, suggests that it was made for a different function than that of the Sicilian mice. Its classification here as Campanian is no more than tentative.
Its classification here as Campanian is no more than tentative.
ITALIAN VASE PAINTING, #95 (80.588)
Plastic Mouse
Mid-4th century B.C.
The mouse is painted a lustrous black, with palmettes on each haunch and a grapevine on the back in added white (the leaves and grapes white; the vine itself incised). White is also used for the eyes. The eyebrows, whiskers, and other details are incised.
Compare London G 163, which has a ring handle like a guttus and a pointed spout (Heldring, Sicilian, p. 108, no. 5, pl. 36.6) Heldring places the London mouse among the fourth-century South Italian successors to the plastic mice of fifth-century Sicily (e.g. cat. no. 106). The lack of a narrow, tapering spout on this mouse, or indeed of any secondary aperture for pouring, suggests that it was made for a different function than that of the Sicilian mice. Its classification here as Campanian is no more than tentative.
Provenancegift of Henry P. Kidder to MFA, October 21, 1880