91Èȱ¬

Pottery vessel or oinochoe decorated in 'Wild goat style'. The pot has been covered with cream slip and decorated in 'black glaze'. On the shoulder there is a palmette or fan with 7 leaves with spirals and filled lozenges and triangles. On either side can be seen a long necked bird, its head turned back to its tail, the body decorated. The birds are not an exact pair. The rim of pot has a trefoil mouth for pouring. Robert Cook, the ancient Greek pottery specialist, suggested this pot was made in Caria, in what is now Turkey in 575-550 BC, and compared it with the Bachum Painter. This pot tells us that people around the shores of the eastern Mediterranean had mastered the art of decorating and firing pottery to produce a sophisticated product. The 'Wild Goat' style was popular and was traded around the ancient Greek world in the archaic period. The geometric styles from which it stems was developed further with classic Black and Red Figure pottery vessels that are perhaps more familiar to museum visitors. This is a reminder that whatever the later history of conflict with the Persians, there was a strong eastern influence on ancient Greek pottery at this time.