ART 198 - HISTORY OF WORLD CERAMICS

Inspired by the 'orientalized' black figure ware of Greece, this Etruscan pitcher features a zoomorphic, half human, half bird, called a Siren, who faces another bird form. Note that detail is executed with sgraffito carving, and note the typically Etruscan shape of the spout. The Siren was a figure from Greek mythology, and was half bird and half woman. Possessing beautiful and captivating voices, sirens were known to lure sailors to their deaths with their songs. Homer refers to them in the Odyssey as the figures that tired to lure Odysseus as he sailed home from Troy to Greece. His journey took his ship near the dangerous, rocky shores of Scylla and Charibdis, where many ships had been lost. Odysseus was warned by the gods, so put wax in his oarsmen's ears so they could not hear and be tempted by the songs of the sirens. However, Odysseus wanted desperately to hear their songs, so had himself bound to the mast of the ship so he could hear their singing, but not turn the ship off course towards the rocks.

Etruscan Pitcher, influenced by Greek 'Orientalized' Black Figure ware 525 BCE, Italian peninsula