Working through my postcard stash, I came across this and can’t for the life of me work out how it got there. Usually at museums, I’ll skip through most pottery, so there’s no way I’d buy a postcard of a vase.
As it turns out, this isn’t a vase, but is in fact a “pelike”, which is a particular shape of drinking vessel, which was popular in Greece around the 5th century BC. Unlike the better known amphorae, which have pointed bottoms, the pelike has a flat bottom and can stand alone, which seems a rather obvious design if you ask me.
So, when I started this piece, I had no interest in Greek ceramic art, but the longer I sat studying the piece and drawing it, the more I came to appreciate how the skilled the sculptor was and by the end of it I felt that I could really appreciate pelikes.
