As we pick this graceful vessel up by its handle,
we cannot help but wonder who might have made
these same gestures centuries before. When this
little oinochoe was new, the Classical world was in
its flowering. In Magna Graecia (pre-Roman
southern Italy), cities originally founded by Greek
colonists supported a luxurious lifestyle for their
citizens. On the dressing table of some beautiful
woman, this vase might have contained fragrant
oils used to smooth the skin. What thoughts
crossed her mind as she lifted the vase to pour
out it contents? As we picture this moment, or a
thousand variations on that same theme, we are
connected across time with that vanished age and
the people who gave it meaning.
- (PF.2145)
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