The Menil Collection The Menil Collection

Known as an olla (pot), a shape used for storage or cooking, this vase includes two horizontal handles, a bulbous body, and a short, trumpeting foot. Like another vase in the Menil Collection (CA 64060), this is an example of Etruscan impasto (a coarse clay) coated in a red slip and decorated with white, which gives the technique its scholarly name of white-on-red. The white decoration, which more fugitive, has not survived well on this example, but some areas preserve the three concentric circle motif. There are also some extant bands on the foot. Together, the decorative schema identifies it as a type used around Lake Bosena, Italy. More specifically, although no archaeological provenience (findspot) is known for this vase, it stylistically matches those produced in ancient Visentium (Bisenzio, Italy). It entered the de Menil’s collection as a gift of their acquaintance Roberto Rossellini (1906-1977), an Italian film director.