The displayed black lacquer fluted oenochoe was discovered during the archaeological study of the Kalos Limen necropolis in 1998 by the West Crimean Expedition. It was organized by the Institute of Archaeology at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The jug has an egg-shaped body and a neck that expands into a trefoil mouth. On the neck of the vessel, there is an ivy-leaf pattern applied using liquid engobe.
Among the surviving works of ancient art, there are many Greek vases. Their popularity can be attributed to their simplicity and sophistication in form, as well as the exquisite sculptural decorations and paintings. Vases were commonly used at symposia. The Greeks also used wine jugs — initially, oenochoae and olpes — and later lagynos jugs.
The Rhodian oenochoae from the 7th — early 6th century BCE typically have a steeply rising trefoil mouth, with a hook-shaped, curved handle rising above the lip. Its upper end is framed by disc-shaped attached elements. The large body flares at the top and tapers downward. In Attica black-figure ceramics from the last decades of the 6th century and the first decades of the 5th century BCE, another type of oenochoae can be found with a low, arched handle. Their neck and mouth are slightly wider than those of Rhodian jugs. The shoulders are narrower, the body has a less pronounced outline, and a simple, flat foot is separated from the neck by a small roll. Attica red-figure ceramics from the 5th century BCE feature oenochoae with low handles, a narrow neck that is sharply separated from sloping shoulders. The shoulders smoothly transition into a large, barrel-shaped body on a relatively wide and very low foot.
Such a vessel sometimes lacks a foot, and the jug simply stands on its flat bottom. In the 5th century BCE, another type of red-figured oinochoae was found in Attica. The mouth turns into a relatively wide and low neck that is one with steep shoulders, and a barrel-shaped body on a wide and low foot. Oenochoae of this type were widely used in the 4th century BCE. They differ from their predecessors in slightly lighter and elongated proportions of the barrel-shaped body, and a significant outward bend of the edges of the trefoil mouth.
