Pyxis (pottery)

A pyxis (Greek: ; : pyxides) is a shape of vessel from the classical world, usually a cylindrical box with a separate lid and no handles. They were used to hold cosmetics, trinkets or jewellery, but were also used for dispensing incense and by physicians to contain medicine. Surviving pyxides are mostly Greek pottery, but could also be made from a range of other materials: wood, bronze, ivory, marble, terracotta, silver, or stone. The name derived from Corinthian boxes made of wood from the tree puksos ("boxwood"). During the Classical period, the Attic word "''kylichnis''" was also used to refer to the same shape. The shape of the vessel can be traced in pottery back to the Protogeometric period in Athens, however the Athenian pyxis has various shapes itself.

Types

There were many different varieties of pyxis, popular in different times and places. The earliest were the Protogeometric type of vessel which had a globular body, and the pointed-bottom pyxis from the early Geometric period. The pointed pyxis did not last much longer than the ninth century BCE. During the later Geometric period another style emerged with a flat, very broad base. Contemporary scholarship classifies pyxides as either: type A, type B, type C, type D, lekanis, Nikosthenic, or tripod.

Nikosthenic type

This type was introduced by Nikosthenes during the late sixth century BCE. It is characterised by a deep, calyx-shaped bowl with a flanged rim and a stemmed foot, and a domed lid. The decorations on pyxides found in an Etruscan context tend towards depictions of battles and athletic contests; for pyxides found in Greek and near eastern Mediterranean settings the depictions tend to be of marriage, childbirth, or religious processions. Evidence suggests that this was a popular type on the eastern Aegean island of Samos and in Etruria between 560–500 BCE.

Proto-Geometric type

Examples of pyxide from the Proto-Geometric style of Greek pottery normally between roughly 1050 and 900 BCE include the ''globular pyxis'', a type of pyxis characterized with a wide, circular body and a flared lip at the top of the vessel. Other forms of pyxide commonly from the early geometric period include the ''pointed pyxis'' is a type of pyxis characterised with a wide tip that thins into a point at the bottom.

Conrinthian type

Corinthian style pyxides usually share similar traits of being less circular than traditional Greek geometric style pyxides. This can be seen in the ''tall convex pyxis'', and the 8th century ''straight-sided pyxis'' Corinthian styles. Other forms of Corintian pyxyde include the ''Type II: Low Concave-sided'' pyxis dated around the 5th and 4th centuries BC and the ''Type III: High Concave-sided'' pyxis dated ca. late 7th century BC

Gallery

File:Pisside con rilievi in faience, da polledrara, vulci, 750-700 ac ca. 01.JPG, Pyxis made out of "Egyptian faience". Imported to Italy from northern Syria. Produced 750–700 BC, Altes Museum.
File:Roman - Pyxis - Walters 4776 - View B.jpg, A Roman luxury Pyxis, used to hold cosmetics or precious jewellery - Walters Art Museum
File:Pyxis with four horses, Greece, Attica, Geometric Period, 8th century BC, terracotta - Wadsworth Atheneum - Hartford, CT - DSC05138.jpg, Pyxis with four horses, Greece, Attica, Geometric Period, 8th century BC, terracotta - Wadsworth Atheneum - Hartford, Connecticut
File:Athens Pyxis depicting a hand.jpg, 4th century "Type IV" Athenian pyxis with a depiction of a hand, National Museum, Warsaw
File:Ivory Pyxis from Cordoba.JPG, Ivory pyxis from Córdoba, Spain, 10th century AD, Victoria and Albert Museum
File:Clay pyxis with lid, Protogeometric Period, 10th c. BC (28440925722).jpg, Example of a "Globular" style Pyxis - ''Clay pyxis with lid, Protogeometric Period, 10th c. BC''
File:Terracotta pyxis (box) MET DP117194.jpg, Example of a "Type II", Low Concave-sided, Pyxis c. 400 BC - Metropolitan Museum of Arts
File:Terracotta pyxis (box) MET DP1836.jpg, Example of a terracotta "Type III: High Concave-sided" pyxis style
File:Pointed pyxis Louvre CA6020.jpg, Example of a "pointed" style of pyxis, c. 900–875 BC, Louvre Museum

See also

* Pyxis of Zamora
* Pyxis of al-Mughira
* Pyxis of Čierne Kľačany

References

Bibliography

*
*
*
* Sparkes, Brian A. (1991)
Greek Pottery: An Introduction
Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press; New York: Distributed exclusively in the US and Canada by St. Martin's Press
* Dickinson, Oliver (1994)
The Aegean Bronze Age
Cambridge University Press

{{Greek vase shapes

Ancient Greek pot shapes
Containers