V. I. Yarmolovich

Kiprskii kuvshin iz sobraniia muzeia "Polenovo': problema interpretatsii soderzhimogo keramiki [The Cypriote Jug from the Polenovo and the Problem of Interpreting the Contents of Pottery]

The article presents a study of a jug from the island of Cyprus, which is held in the collection of The Vassily Polenov Fine Arts Museum and National Park. It was presumably brought by V. D. Polenov from Saqqara (Egypt). This fact is evidenced by an inscription on the bottom of the vessel. The jug is attributed as the Base Ring ware I, which is typical of the Late Bronze Age (the New Kingdom according to the Egyptian chronology). This ware, and jugs in particular, was produced in Cyprus and actively transported to countries of the eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt. Particular attention is paid in the article to the problem of such jugs’ contents and a discussion that developed around this topic. In the 1960s R. S. Merrillees, based on visual analysis and a fairly loose interpretation of historical sources, suggested that they had been used to store and transport opium. However, many researchers did not support this point of view, pointing to insufficient number of facts and sources for such conclusions. Later, scientists analyzed remains of the contents of these vessels and obtained results that significantly expanded the knowledge of what could be placed in such jugs and allowed us to reconsider the hypothesis of R. S. Merrillees.

Keywords:
Cyprus, pottery, Egypt, Polenovo, papaver somniferum.

Original language — Russian.

DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2024-00009.

Referring: Yarmolovich V. I. The Cypriote Jug from the Polenovo and the Problem of Interpreting the Contents of Pottery [in Russian] // Egypt and neighbouring countries 2 (2024): 79–88. DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2024-00009.

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