1981 - Etruscan Jug

Etrusco-Corinthian Olpe with Winged Felines
625-600 BC
Purchased from Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd, London, with funds from the Alumni Association of The University of Queensland.

This olpe (jug) was purchased with funds donated to the Antiquities Museum by the Alumni Association of The University of Queensland in 1981.

The decoration is an Etruscan imitation of a 7th century BC Corinthian style called "orientalising" for its use of floral motifs and animal friezes. In Corinth, this style is painted in black-figure decoration, but in this example the painter has imitated black-figure using incision to outline figures and a white slip for details. The frieze is a common motif on 7th century Greek ceramics: winged lions or panthers.

Valuable artefacts such as this olpe are an example of the Alumni Association of The University of Queensland’s support and generosity toward the Antiquities Museum and the discipline of Classics and Ancient History. Upon the purchase of this object, T.R. Bryce, Head of Department, said:

I would like to express my appreciation to the Alumni Association for its continuing support of our Museum, especially by enabling us to purchase valuable antiquities which we would not otherwise be in a position to acquire.

Unpublished Correspondence, T.R. Bryce to M. Madalin, Alumni Officer, UQ, 8/9/1981