Produzioni ibride dell’Orientalizzante: le oinochoai polimateriche e del tipo “Astarita

Orientalizing hybrid productions: polymateric and Astarita type jugs The experiment of realizing the same object in different materials, stressing the possibilities of that material itself, is well explained by few particular polymateric jugs and their ceramic imitations, better known as Astarita type jugs. It was a virtuosity very appreciated, now as then, from the local orientalizing élites that commissioned those objects and it presumed high technical skills that were passed on from artisans to artisans. This paper will focus on the morphological analysis of this group of vases and, where possible, on the examination of their contexts of discovery. Furthermore it will stress the comparison among them and finally it will discuss the motif of female heads always represented on their neck, investigating the probable symbolic connotations apropos the vases functions.