late-19th c - 2000
Early modern (British Protectorate/British Cyprus)
Earthenware milk vessel, dark red body, unglazed, in the form of a large squat bowl with a wide tubular spout emerging from the base, and two side handles; on the top of each handle a small pointed boss. One handle impressed with Greek capital letters: ΛIAN IXΓ.
For information about the vendor and the collection, see Eu1914,1008.1, and E. Papademetriou, 'Cypriot Ethnography Collections in British Museums, Nicosia 2000.
For this pot, see Papademetriou 2000, no. 108, p. 123, where this is described as a 'milk bowl ('galeftiri'). Phini ware, late 19th century.' The inscription is explained as follows: the first four letters probably the initials of the names of the potter and owner, the last three the years of production 93 (1883).
In his article on 'The Anthropology of Cyprus' (see above), Dudley Buxton describes these milk bowls as follows: 'Another type of this pot which is still in common use is the milk bowl, a large pot with a spout that leaves the vessel below the water line and turns upward at a right angle. Additional interest attaches to this form of pot because it is not infrequently stamped with the potter's mark close to the handle, another survival.'
An undated note from the vendor, L H Dudley Buxton, on paper with letterhead 'Cyprus Museum, Nicosia' to: 'T A Joyce Esq, Dept British & Medieval Antiquities & Ethnography', reads:
'The contents of this case are Cypriot pottery & 1 spinning wheel. The value of the pottery when purchased was as follows:
Big milk bowl 1/-
Phyne & Famagusta ware 6 c.p.
Lapithos ware 1/-
The spinning wheel when new would cost 3/-
Contents referred to in letter.'
The 'big milk bowl' referred to must be this vessel.
Similar large milk bowls, but with shorter spout and in buff clay were also used in Malta, known as 'hallaba' (singular) or milking jug, from the Maltese 'halib' (milk). Examples are to be found in the Palazzo Falson, Malta.
