Jan., 191 2. Antiquities from Boscoreale. 191 



BRONZE PITCHER. 24405. [Plates CXLII-CXLIV.] 



Pitcher, perhaps the other member of the pair (cf. 24406) found 

 near the oil-vat. 1 It is in good condition, though covered with thick, 

 mostly dark blue oxide. The body of the vase and the handle with 

 its attachments are cast separately. 



The body of the vase consists of a nearly globular lower part rest- 

 ing on a low base, the interior of which is turned, and a plainly differ- 

 entiated neck, the top of which, forming the lip, flares very slightly. 

 There is a rather sharply defined spout. 



The vase is ornamented with a slight groove at the top of the 

 base-ring and about four fine encircling lines on the lower part of 

 the neck. The base of the neck is raised slightly above the surface 

 of the shoulder. 



As in No. 24406, the handle separates above into a thumb-rest, 

 the base of which is bound by an ornamental band, and arms which 

 rest on the top of the vase. The thumb-rest has the form of a leaf with 

 recurved end, and is decorated on the upper surface with two longitu- 

 dinal lines. The arms, which imitate no natural form, are rounded 

 on top and taper to beveled ends. 2 On the front of the handle, just 

 beneath the thumb-rest and facing the mouth of the vase there is a 

 lotus-flower pointing downwards. 



The lower attachment of the handle, which has the form of a plaque 

 with three convex sides, is fastened to the vase by means of four nails 

 or rivets, two above in ear-like projections at either corner, and two 

 in the lower part, one on each side, and terminates beneath in a simple 

 palmette with a volute 3 at either side. 



The plaque serves as the background for the relief of an infant's 

 face with full round cheeks and broad hollow nose. The eyes slant 

 slightly upward and outward, the right eye a trifle more than the 

 left. The eyebrows and the upper eyelids are represented plastically; 

 pupil and iris are indicated by indentations. The hair is arranged 

 in rows of naturalistic curls, as in a figure supposed to be Ganymede 

 on a bronze umbo from Carnuntum. 4 In the hair there is a diadem 

 with leaf-pattern ornament, which may be compared with the wreath 

 in the hair of a similar mask on a ewer published by Schreiber, 5 and 

 with the lower band of the headdress of the figure on the umbo above 



1 Pasqui, op. cit. col. 499. The pitchers found on top of the table (24407) were similar to this, 

 but neither was identical, if Pasqui's statement (col. 478) that their handles were ornamented each with 

 a mask of a bacchante is correct. 



» Cf. 24406. 



1 Cf. Schreiber, Alexand. Toreutik, p. 377. 



4 Muensterberg, Oest. Jahreshefte, vi, plate 4. 



* Alexand. Toreutik, p. 370, No. 161 a, ' 'Kindermaske mit Blatterkranz im Haar." 



