Cypriot Terracotta Jug in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2010

Jug, ca. 750–600 b.c.; Cypro-Archaic I
Cypriot
Terracotta
H. 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm)
The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by subscription, 1874–76 (74.51.532)

The jug is decorated with a black wearing a tunic and carrying two spears. Blacks are represented in Phoenician art and in some bronze statuettes of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. Moreover, the Greek historian Herodotus mentions Ethiopians in connection with Cyprus; it is possible that during Egyptian rule of the island (ca. 570–526/5 B.C.) Ethiopians settled there.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/74.51.532