Jar Annalysis
...dy and balanced. This sense of instability is combated with the bottom of the painted decoration that appears halfway up the vessel, atop the empty space that spans the vessel until reaching the waist. This empty space is a tan color, the color the clay would have been after fired at a high temperature. A steady, even pattern of black upside-down arches, more like oblong “U” shapes, protrudes from a plain black band that sits atop of the pattern; surrounding the container almost entirely and bringing with it a sense of stability. Both the band and its underlying pattern are painted black, and at the time it was painted it would have been a shiny black. This pattern, combined with the circular flow the pattern inevitably follows around the container, breaks when reaching the circular handles. This effect draws the eye around the vessel to the handles. Above the black band is a pattern that combines both elements discussed above; stability and instability. This pattern is the body of the vessel, from just above the waist to the mouth. Four circles are positioned evenly around the vessel, about halfway from the waist of the vessel to the top. Each circle is empty space; the same tan color as the bottom half of the container. These circles seem to be spinning, as thick lines of purple and red are being “spit” out of the circles on to a black background. Some of these lines run off into the top and bottom of the painted area in a feeling of chaos, reinforcing the instable mood the form of the vessel started. However, some of the lines being “spit” out flow almost parallel to each other downward across the vessel, and then swing back up into another circle on the decorated area. These lines are spun off of the next circle, creating a rhythm and flow that provide the stable feeling the band and its pattern created underneath. The circles on the decorated area of the vessel contain another element of location that is important. The four circles are located near the sides (where the handles are) of the vessel. The pattern of the decorated area, as stated earlier, creates the feeling that the circles are spinning. With the location of the circles near the circular handles, the resulting effect is that the circles in the pattern appear that they could have “drifted” off the vessel to create the circular handles protruding from the sides. This repetition of the circular shapes in proximity gives another sense of rhythm and flow. This also draws the eyes to the circular handles, a reinforcement of what the band and its upside-down arch pattern accomplish. At the top of the vessel, as the shape begins to become thinner again, the pattern is stopped at the mouth. At the thinnes...