Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 2.djvu/317

 CERAMICS IN CYPRUS. 291 hand. In its combination of strength and refinement with a rather dry precision it reminds us of Greek art at the end of the sixth century and beginning of the fifth. We have already shown by numerous examples how popular Herakles was in Cyprus, so that we can feel no surprise at finding his head thus used for a vase, or, to be more accurate, for one of those hollow statuettes in which perfumes were kept. On an cenocho6 from Curium (Fig. 230), we find a complex notion of a different kind managed with no less skill. A small FIG. 224. Front view of the same vessel. female figure is seated where neck and body meet, on what we may call the shoulder of the vessel. She is exactly opposite to the handle ; in her right hand she holds a small jug which is inclined as if to pour the liquid contained in the cenochoe. The motive is ingenious perhaps too ingenious. A salient figure like this would not be out of place on a metal vase, but here it is too much exposed to accident, while, seeing what its material is, the least shock would be fatal. We see, then, that down to the time when this vase, which is