The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2023

Monkey-Shaped Aryballos (Oil Vessel)

c. 580 BC

East Greek, probably Milesian

Ceramic

Diameter of mouth: 2 cm (13/16 in.); Overall: 9 cm (3 9/16 in.); Diameter of base: 3.7 cm (1 7/16 in.)

Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Dr. Leo Mildenberg in honor of Arielle P. Kozloff 1991.50

Location

102B Greek

Fun Fact

An aryballos is a small jar for scented oils and perfumes.

Description

Perfume flasks in the form of a monkey are numerous, but few are as well made and preserved as this one. The flask was worn suspended from the wrist by a cord. Its owner would take it to the communal baths and anoint himself with its contents afterward. Such flasks have been found throughout the Mediterranean and Egypt, but this vessel was likely made at a Greek settlement on the west coast of Asia Minor.

Provenance
1991-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Beazley Archive. n.d. Beazley Archive Pottery Database. Oxford: Beazley Archive. BAPD 1002947 www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
Ducat, Jean. Les Vases plastiques rhodiens archaïques en terre cuite. Paris: F., de Boccard, 1966. p. 122, no. C-2
André Emmerich Gallery. Classical Art from a New York Collection: An Exhibition of Ancient Bronzes, Figurative Plastic Vases and Other Ancient Works of Art, Organized in Cooperation with Münzen Und Medaillen AG, Basle, Switzerland, September 27-November 16, 1977. New York: André Emmerich Gallery, 1977. no. 13
Kozloff, Arielle P., and Leo Mildenberg. Animals in Ancient Art: From the Leo Mildenberg Collection. Cleveland (Ohio): Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981. p. 117, no. 98
Gehrig, Ulrich. Tierbilder aus vier Jahrtausenden: Antiken aus Sammlung Mildenberg. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, 1983. p. 102, no. 98
Kozloff, Arielle P., David Gordon Mitten, and Michel Sguaitamatti. More Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection. Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1986. no. 42
Turner, Evan H., Alan Chong, Henry Hawley, Jane Glaubinger, Tom E. Hinson, Henry John Drewal, Margaret Young-Sánchez, Stanislaw J. Czuma, J. Keith Wilson, Michael R. Cunningham, Lawrence M. Berman, Ariellé P. Kozloff, Renate Eikelmann, Michael J. Miller, Anne E. Wardwell, and Bruce Robertson. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991) p. 70 www.jstor.org
Zahlhaas, Gisela. Aus Noahs Arche: Tierbilder der Sammlung Mildenberg aus fünf Jahrtausenden. München: P. von Zabern, 1996. no. 62, p. 80, no. 138, p. 177
Mottahedeh, Patricia Erhart, and Gisela Zahlhaas. Out of Noah's Ark: Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenburg Collection. Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1997. p. 80, no. 62, 177
Neils, Jenifer, and Gisela Walberg. Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, OH]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. pp. 23-24, pl. 59.3-7
Exhibition history

Classical Art from a New York Collection, Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY (27 September-16 November 1977).

Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (21 October-29 November 1981).

Tierbilder aus vier Jahrtausenden aus der Sammlung Mildenberg, Antikenmuseum Berlin, (26 March-5 June 1983); Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kassel, (1 July-25 September 1983); Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, (January-April 1984); Prähistorische Staatsammlung, Munich, (May-July 1984); Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Freiburg, (1984).

Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection, Archaeological (Rockefeller) Museum, Jerusalem (Autumn 1986-May 1987).

Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991).

Aus Noah Arche - antike Tierbilder der Sammlung Mildenberg. Prähistorische Staatssammlung, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Munich (October 10, 1996-January 12, 1997).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.50