Sculpture Aryballe in the shape of an owl

Terracotta edition made in a French workshop from a mold of the Ateliers d'Art de la Rmn-GP. Hand-applied motifs.
This type of small vase, named Aryballe, was used in ancient Greece to put olive oil on naked athletes to protect them from the sun during competitions. The body of the animal serves as a...

Terracotta edition made in a French workshop from a mold of the Ateliers d'Art de la Rmn-GP. Hand-applied motifs.
This type of small vase, named Aryballe, was used in ancient Greece to put olive oil on naked athletes to protect them from the sun during competitions. The body of the animal serves as a reservoir and a small hole in the tail allows the liquid to flow out. The shape adopted for the vase varies according to the wishes of the recipient. For this aryball, the owl refers to the deity Athena, goddess of wisdom and warrior intelligence.

For two centuries, the craftsmen of the Rmn-GP's molding workshop have been putting their unique know-how at the service of one of the largest and most prestigious collections of molds made from originals in order to bring to life the masterpieces of sculpture from Antiquity to the present day.

French and artisanal manufacture: all their pieces are made and decorated by hand in their workshop by their craftsmen, according to a rigorous manufacturing process:
1st step, the casting, then the cleaning of the print before the firing. Then comes the decoration with engobes (very fine naturally colored clays) before a last firing to fix definitively this decoration.
As a finishing touch, natural beeswax can be applied to enhance the colors and protect the decoration.