Small Cypriot Clay Bottle from the Desmond Morris Collection

A small bottle made of polished, darkened clay. The vessel consists of a round base, tall neck, and two holes pierced at the rim for a suspension cord or stopper-attachment of sorts. It is finely decorated with an incised geometric pattern, accentuated by white pigmentation. The vessel is decorated with vertical bands of diamonds, placed one on top of the other, alternating with a horizontal band of a multilinear, chequered pattern. In this instance, the horizontal lines visible at the base of the neck act as lower borders to the tiered neck-diamonds. The body is decorated with four large, closed-border diamonds and thick, horizontal bands. These bands are broken into segments, as opposed to running continuously around the vessel.