Terracotta Oinochoe (Chous) in the Metropolitan Museum, August 2019

Title: Terracotta oinochoe: chous (jug)

Period: Classical

Date: ca. 430–420 BCE

Culture: Greek, Attic

Medium: Terracotta; red-figure

Dimensions: H. 9 5/16 in. (23.6 cm)

Classification: Vases

Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1937

Accession Number: 37.11.19


Man with lyre and staff, woman with lamp, on opposite sides of door

The subject concerns an Athenian reveler at the end of a bibulous evening. There has been considerable debate as to whether the man is returning home or calling on a hetaira (prostitute). Of exceptional architectural interest is the abbreviated depiction of the front of a house with the solid door and the tiled roof.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253538