Unguentarium with Hoplites

Perfume and scented-oil vessel (aryballos) of Corinthian production, decorated on the body with two friezes of warriors (hoplites) facing left. The figures are rendered against a dotted background and separated by lines, circles with central dots, and triangular tongue-shaped fillers. The handle and the neck of the vessel are decorated with a zigzag motif, while the shoulder bears a checkerboard pattern arranged in two rows. Details are executed with fine incised lines.

The aryballos belongs to a group of artifacts looted by so-called tombaroli (illegal excavators) during the 1970s from the hill of Timpone della Motta, near Francavilla Marittima, where a large sanctuary—most likely dedicated to Athena—has been identified. After its illicit removal and sale on the black market, this vessel, together with many other artifacts clandestinely excavated from the same site, was acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu–Los Angeles and entered its collection.

Following a long investigation carried out by the Italian Carabinieri’s Cultural Heritage Protection Unit and through cooperation between Italian and international institutions, the artifacts from Francavilla were returned to Italy in 2001. They are now once again displayed in the museum that also houses the other finds from the site.