Amphoriskos (Container for Oil)

600-575 BCE

Greek; Corinth

Located on the narrow isthmus that joins the Greek mainland and the Peloponnese, with natural harbors facing east and west, Corinth was the major port of trade in Greece for most of the Archaic period (700–480 BCE). Producers exported scented oil around the Mediterranean in terracotta containers like this one known as an amphoriskos, literally a “little amphora,” that survive today in the thousands.

Status: On View, Gallery 151
Department: Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium

Culture: Ancient Greek
Title: Amphoriskos (Container for Oil)
Place: Corinth (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.: 600 BCE–575 BCE
Medium: terracotta, black-figure
Dimensions: 16.5 × 8.4 cm (6 1/2 × 3 1/4 in.); Diam.: 8.4 cm (3 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Charles L. Hutchinson
Reference Number: 1892.124
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/614/manifest.json

Hans Schaal, Griechische Vassen aus Frankfurter Sammlugen (Frankfurter Verlags - Anstalt A.-G., 1923), Tafel 2.
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. 22.

Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 155; April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, November 11, 2012 - present.

Jean P. Lambros (1843-1909), Athens, Greece; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1892; price reimbursed by Charles L. Hutchinson, 1892.

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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.

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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.