Can anyone identify these two pieces of pottery?

July 16, 2016 6:50 AM

The first appears to represent a human figure and would function as a cup when inverted. It has a very distictive groove down the centre of the face. The second is some sort of animal with long ears and would appear to be a lamp or lamp filler with second small hole at 'tail' end.
posted by Petromyzon to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

Can you tell us a bit more information? How did you acquire them? What material are they made out of? It looks like terracotta clay, but it's hard to tell.
posted by Beethoven's Sith at 7:04 AM on July 16, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks for your interest and quick reply. I bought several of these pieces (inc more broken figural cups) at a small country auction with no provenance. Two days of googling failed to find the answer - hence my question here. I am not an expert in the technicalities of ceramics but I would say it is a rough form of terracotta. I have added photos of a broken segment to illustrate the intermal composition.
posted by Petromyzon at 7:25 AM on July 16, 2016

The idea of the cup design is that whomever is holding the cup filled with wine (or whatever) cannot safely put it down until the entire contents are drunk; thus, it is a party design, and the ancient Greeks were known to also use this design method. The second object seems it functions like a smoking pipe, and somewhat humorous as the lips go on the dog's tail end.
posted by nologo at 9:36 AM on July 16, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks, I hadn't thougt of the smoking pipe angle. Time to start googling again!!
posted by Petromyzon at 10:17 AM on July 16, 2016