Oinochoe (Pitcher)

Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

550-500 BCE

Etruscan

This pitcher for wine is called an oinochoe, a combination of the Greek oînos, “wine” and khéō, “I pour”. The shiny black glaze is the result of a technique invented by the Etruscans, a powerful ancient civilization in ancient Italy - near modern day Tuscany - with whom the Greeks regularly traded. The glossy black pottery later known as Bucchero ware was made from the 7th century to the late 5th century BC. Produced for both domestic and funerary uses, Bucchero ware was popular locally and across the Mediterranean. Potters achieved the signature shiny black surface by firing the pottery in a reduced-oxygen kiln, where restricted ventilation caused the iron oxide in the coarse Tuscan clay to turn black. Before firing, the clay was burnished, or polished with a smooth stone, resulting in the sought-after sheen, which mimicked the gleam of bronze vessels.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Etruscan
Title: Oinochoe (Pitcher)
Place: Etruria (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 550 BCE–500 BCE
Medium: terracotta, Bucchero sottile ware
Dimensions: 35.6 × 20.3 × 19.1 cm (14 × 8 × 7 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Philip D. Armour and Charles L. Hutchinson
Reference Number: 1889.19
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/172/manifest.json

William M.R. French, Notes [on a] journey to Europe with Mr. and Mrs. C.L. Hutchinson starting from New York Sat’y Mch. 9, 1889- , (unpublished manuscript, Art Institute of Chicago Archives), p. 27.
Art Institute of Chicago, Preliminary Catalogue of Metal Work, Graeco-Italian Vases, and Antiquities, December 9, 1889 (Chicago: Early and Halla Printing Company, 1889), p. 41, no. 339.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 18.

The Art Institute of Chicago, 1889: The First Year of the Classical Collections, Gallery 101A, October 2, 1989 - January 15, 1990.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 152, November 11, 2012 - present.

Said to be found in Chimsi, 1880 [Old Register at the Art Institute of Chicago]. Augusto Mele, Naples, Italy; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago through J.C. Fletcher as agent, 1889; price reimbursed by Charles Hutchinson and Philip D. Armour, 1889.

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