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Feeder in the shape of a mouse
Greek, South Italian
Classical Period
about 450–410 B.C.
Place of Creation: Italy, Sicily
Medium/Technique
Ceramic, black figure
Dimensions
Overall: 8 x 15.5cm (3 1/8 x 6 1/8in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mathias Komor
Accession Number68.581
CollectionsEurope, Ancient Greece and Rome
ClassificationsVessels
Catalogue Raisonné
Vase-Painting in Italy (MFA), no. 106.
DescriptionPlastic vase in shape of a mouse. The central spout has a pierced lug handle either side, and a feeding spout is between the back lug and the tail.
The mouse crouches with its front paws under its chin and its tail curled up beneath itself. The mouth of the vessel, in the center of the back, is flanked in front and back by a pair of stringholes. A narrow, tapering spout emerges at a 45-degree angle between the rear stringhole and the tail. A black ivy vine is painted on the back as though it were running through the holes. The ears, eyes, eyebrows, and neck fringe are also painted black, as are the tops of the mouth, spout, and stringholes.
Plastic mice of this type have been convincingly identified as Sicilian by Heldring (see references in Vase-Painting in Italy, under no. 106); this example she assigns to her Randazzo Group. A close parallel, not inlcuded in her lists, was recently in the Paris market (A La Reine Margot, Memoire de la Beaute: La Toilette et la Paurure de l'Egypte Predynastique aux Merovingiens [Paris, 1987], p. 23, no. 38.4, illus.). In 1990, another example was seen in a gallery in Rome (Simotti-Rocchi). Heldring suggests that such vessels may have been used for cult purposes (Sicilian, p. 13). The tapering spout, however, suggests a feeding cup; one can easily picture the mouse hanging from cords over a cradle.
(text from Vase-Painting in Italy, catalogue entry no. 106)
The mouse crouches with its front paws under its chin and its tail curled up beneath itself. The mouth of the vessel, in the center of the back, is flanked in front and back by a pair of stringholes. A narrow, tapering spout emerges at a 45-degree angle between the rear stringhole and the tail. A black ivy vine is painted on the back as though it were running through the holes. The ears, eyes, eyebrows, and neck fringe are also painted black, as are the tops of the mouth, spout, and stringholes.
Plastic mice of this type have been convincingly identified as Sicilian by Heldring (see references in Vase-Painting in Italy, under no. 106); this example she assigns to her Randazzo Group. A close parallel, not inlcuded in her lists, was recently in the Paris market (A La Reine Margot, Memoire de la Beaute: La Toilette et la Paurure de l'Egypte Predynastique aux Merovingiens [Paris, 1987], p. 23, no. 38.4, illus.). In 1990, another example was seen in a gallery in Rome (Simotti-Rocchi). Heldring suggests that such vessels may have been used for cult purposes (Sicilian, p. 13). The tapering spout, however, suggests a feeding cup; one can easily picture the mouse hanging from cords over a cradle.
(text from Vase-Painting in Italy, catalogue entry no. 106)
ProvenanceBy 1967: with Mathias Komor, 19 East 71st Street, New York 10021 (according to Komor's records: From Italy); gift of Mathias Komor to MFA, September 11, 1968