Cypriot Bichrome III Earthenware Plate
Cypro-Geometric I-II (1050-850 BC). Height 3.8cm. Diameter 24.5cm, diameter of base 18cm
A plate with a flat base, a shallow body, and a plain rim. Two knobbed horizontal handles are attached to the rim. Made of hard pinkish-buff clay with a matte light buff slip, and decorated in matte dark reddish-brown and dark grey paint. The centre of the external base is decorated with red and black concentric lines. From this point radiate four red, black-bordered M-shaped motifs with latticed central triangles, alternating with four bands of bordered zigzag lines. On the inside, encircling lines run around the middle of the body and the bottom. The bottom is fully painted, and both the rim and handles are also painted.
The plate was excavated by the Swedish Cyprus Expedition in 1930 at Amathus at level 20 of a chamber in Tomb 19. It has been part of the collection of the Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden (Inv. No. A. 019:013) since 1930.