Red-Figure Cow-Head Rhyton (Drinking Horn): Seated Woman

c. 340 BC

Red-Figure Cow-Head Rhyton (Drinking Horn): Seated Woman, c. 340 BC. South Italian, Apulian, Tarentine. Ceramic; diameter: 10 cm (3 15/16 in.); overall: 17 cm (6 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1982.41 Rhyta (drinking horns) in the forms of animal heads were popular ceramic products in Apulia c. 350-320 BC. Mold-made heads were attached to wheel-made bowls, with separately made handles (plus ears and horns, for this cow). On the bowl, a seated woman holds a helmet and spear, with a shield nearby; she may represent Athena, although the helmet differs from her usual type and she does not appear to wear her snaky aegis (breastplate). The cow-head rhyton was the most popular of all Apulian animal-head rhyta.