Protoattic

Museum: Eleusis, Archeological Museum
Size: 1.42m
Function: funerary (contained skeleton of small child buried at Eleusis).
Technique: silhouette with minimal incision and outline with much added white
Style: Protoattic (Middle, Black and White style)
Decoration: giant Polyphemus, holding a drinking cup, is blinded by Odysseus and a companion (neck), lion confronts a boar (shoulder), decapitated Gorgon 'floats' behind her two sisters who flee Perseus (body).
Date: mid 7th c.
Analysis: large size, two-dimensional 'snakes' (now rendered as a cable pattern), fretwork handles and figure decoration on one side only suit use as a coffin. Homeric myths, mixed and rather crude techniques, and copious filling ornament confirm a mid 7th c date.