Situla (plural ''situlae''), from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word for

bucket A bucket is typically a watertight, vertical Cylinder (geometry), cylinder or Truncation (geometry), truncated Cone (geometry), cone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom, attached to a semicircular carrying handle (grip), handle called ...

or pail, is the term in archaeology and art history for a variety of elaborate bucket-shaped vessels from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, usually with a handle at the top. All types may be highly decorated, most characteristically with

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s in

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

s or

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

s running round the vessel. Decorated

situlae in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

are a distinctive feature of

Etruscan art Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct character ...

in burials from the northern part of the Etruscan regions, from which the style spread north to some cultures in

Northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, and adjacent areas, where terms such as situla culture and situla art may be used. Situla is also the term for types of bucket-shaped Ancient Greek vases, some very finely painted. More utilitarian

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

situlae are also found, and some in

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

or other materials, such as two

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

ones from

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

in St Mark's, Venice. Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern shapes tend to have a pointed bottom, so that they must rest on a stand or on their side. The practical wider shape is a European invention, first seen in the

European Bronze Age The European Bronze Age is characterized by bronze artifacts and the use of bronze implements. The regional Bronze Age succeeds the Neolithic and Copper Age and is followed by the Iron Age. It starts with the Aegean Bronze Age in 3200 BC (succ ...

Iron Age Europe

Typical

situlae are

, as in the types of

libation A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today. Various substa ...

vessels found as

grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...

in Etruscan graves, the

Este culture The Este culture or Atestine culture was an Iron Age Europe, Iron Age archaeological culture existing from the late Italian Bronze Age (10th-9th century BC, proto-venetic phase) to the Ancient Rome, Roman period (1st century BC). It was located in ...

(example, the

Situla Benvenuti The Benvenuti Situla is a bronze situla that dates to ca. 600 B.C. It is a product of the situla art that spread north from the Etruscans in this period, in this case to the Este culture that flourished in Este, Veneto during the 7th century BC. ...

) and neighbouring

Golasecca culture The Golasecca culture (9th - 4th century BC) was a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age culture in northern Italy, whose type-site was excavated at Golasecca in the province of Varese, Lombardy, where, in the area of Monsorino at the beginning of the ...

, and the eastern zone of the

Hallstatt culture The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western Europe, Western and Central European Archaeological culture, culture of Late Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe ...

of Central and Southeast Europe. Here they have a distinctive style, often without a handle; the Vače situla is a Slovenian example. These usually have sides sloping outwards, then a sharp turn in at the shoulder, and outside Etruria often a short narrower neck. The shape has similarities with the narrower spouted Etruscan shape of flagon that was also copied to the north, as in the 5th-century Basse Yutz Flagons found in France. They are often decorated, in the most elaborate examples with several bands of figures running round the vessel. They may or may not have handles, and sometimes have lids. Many are made of several sheets held together with rivets. The Etruscan examples are most characteristic in the 7th century BC, though continuing well afterwards. They are in various materials, from pottery to bronze, and sometimes silver. The Situla of the Pania is an unusual luxury Etruscan example in ivory, and the Bocchoris vase a ceramic import from Egypt from an Etruscan burial. The Este and Hallstatt examples are later, with the Slovenian production reaching a peak in quality in the 5th century, up to about 400 BC, well after the Hallstatt period had ended over much of its area. Some were found containing cremated ashes, but they were essentially luxury vessels used at feasts. Numerous Hallstatt situlae were found in Slovenia, mainly (19 of them) in the area of Novo Mesto in Lower Carniola, which has been named the "City of Situlae" due to this. Japodian burial urns made by the Japodes tribe of Illyrians are a 5th-century BC extension into modern Bosnia of this style. Later Etruscan and then Roman styles favoured a simple shape curving from the base, becoming vertical at the top, with a wide mouth and no shoulder, but sometimes a projecting rim. These had a variety of uses, including for washing and bathing. Any decoration was often concentrated on the upper part of the sides.

Situla art

Situla art was an important means of transition of Greek-derived motifs from the Etruscans through the regions to the north to the emerging La Tène culture further west. According to Ruth and Vincent Megaw, "Situla art depicts life as seen from a masculine viewpoint, in which women are servants or sex objects; most of the scenes which include humans are of the feasts in which the situlae themselves figure, of the hunt or of war". Similar scenes are found on other vessel shapes, as well as bronze belt-plaques. The processions of animals, typical of earlier examples, or humans derive from the Near East and Mediterranean, and Nancy Sandars finds the style shows "a ''gaucherie'' that betrays the artist working in a way that is uncongenial, too much at variance with the temper of the craftsmen and the craft". Compared to earlier styles that arose organically in Europe "situla art is weak and sometimes quaint", and "in essence not of Europe". Except for the Benvenuti Situla, men are hairless, with "funny hats, dumpy bodies and big heads", though often shown looking cheerful in an engaging way. The Benevenuti Situla is also unusual in that it seems to show a specific story. File:Sítula de bronze, vaixella per a beure, tomba 504 de Hallstatt.JPG, Imported (?) bronze from Hallstatt, 800-750 BC File:Situla da tomba dei flabelli a poggio della porcareccia (populonia), 700-550 ac ca..JPG, Etruscan with geometric ornament, 700-550 BC File:Museo archeologico di Firenze, pisside da Chiusi, terzo quarto del VII sec. a.c..JPG, Etruscan "Situla of the Pania, Situla della Pania", 7th century BC File:Situla in argento placcata oro con iscrizione plikasnas, da chiusi, 650 ac ca. 01.JPG, Etruscan, silver, Chiusi, c. 650 BC File:Situla con lamine d'argento stampate, da tomba regolini-galassi di cerveteri, 650 ac ca. 02.JPG, Etruscan, with silver mounts, Cerveteri c. 650 BC File:Kärl af brons (situla) med drifna ornament, Nordisk familjebok.jpg, Clearer reproduction of the Etruscan bronze situla at the top of the page. File:Situla veneta.jpg,

, c. 600 BC File:Hallstatt culture Kleinklein - bronze vases & situlas.jpg, Bronze vases & situlae, Eastern zone of

D, Kleinklein File:Museo Archeologico Villa Mirabello, Varese - St 12456 - situla - Golasecca II A.jpg,

II A, turn of the 7/6th century BC image:PMS - vaška situla (1).jpg, The Vače situla, Slovenia, 5th century BC File:Necropoli del casone, tomba di calisna sepu, situla a campana in bronzo, III sec ac 01.JPG, Late Etruscan, 3rd century BC, bronze File:Produzione volterrana, situla a vernice nera, da pisa, fine IV-inizi III sec ac..JPG, Late Etruscan, c. 300 BC, pottery

Attribute of Isis

The term is also used for pails carried by figures in other art forms; according to Plutarch and other sources this was a sign of a devotee of Isis, who herself is often shown carrying one (containing water from the sacred Nile), of a rather different shape, with a rounded bottom, and sometimes lidded. This rounded shape, often with a "nipple" at the bottom (see Luristan example in gallery), is believed to have represented the female breast. These were also donated to temples as votive offerings by devotees.

Christian situlae

Elaborate early medieval situlae, sometimes called aspersoria (singular: aspersorium), were Christian liturgy, liturgical objects used to hold holy water, also usually of bronze, and straight-sided with a handle. An aspergillum was dipped in the situla to collect water with which to sprinkle the congregation or other objects. Four richly carved ivory examples from the 10th century are known: the Basilewsky Situla of 920 in the Victoria & Albert Museum, decorated with twelve Life of Christ in art, scenes from the life of Christ on two levels (it contains one of the very few depictions of Judas Iscariot showing remorse and throwing the thirty silver coins on the floor of the Temple), the "Situla of Gotofredo" of c. 980 in Milan Cathedral, one in the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, and one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. All came from the milieu of the Ottonian court: an inscription says that Archbishop Gotfredus presented the Milan example in anticipation of a visit by the Emperor, also referred to in the London example which was possibly from the same workshop. The latest and most lavish is the Aachen example, which is studded with jewels and shows an enthroned Emperor, surrounded by a pope and archbishops. This was probably made in Trier about 1000.

Outside Europe

The term may also be used for similar vessels from other cultures, especially the ancient Middle East and China and Vietnam.Metropolitan, Vietnamese bronze situla
/ref> Bronze bath buckets are also found in Islamic art, such as the 12th century Persian Bobrinsky Bucket in the Hermitage Museum.

Gallery

File:Egyptian - Situla with Erased Cartouche of Akhenaten - Walters 48456 - Profile (cropped).jpg, Egyptian faience situla with erased cartouche of Akhenaten, 12 inches high File:Situla Luristan MBA Lyon 1936-1.jpg, Situla from Luristan, 9th century BC File:Decorated Situla, 305-30 BC, Ptolemaic Dynasty, bronze - Cleveland Museum of Art - DSC08681.JPG, Egyptian, 305-30 BC, Ptolemaic Dynasty, bronze Image:Priestess of isis.jpg, Mysteries of Isis, Priestess of Isis carrying situla, Roman statue, 2nd century BC File:Antikensammlung Kiel 109.JPG, Ancient Greek (Apulian) pottery situla vase, 340-320 BC File:Situla in argento con donne al bagno, da ercolano, 190-210 dc ca. 01.JPG, Roman silver situla with lady (or Venus) bathing, 190-210 AD File:Ivory situla Met 17.190.45.jpg, Ottonian art, Ottonian ivory situla with scenes from the Life of Christ in art, Life of Christ c. 860-880 AD File:Acetre (29344797692).jpg, Emirate of Granada, Nasrid situla from the Alhambra, 14th century. Bronze with niello.

Notes

References

*Beckwith, John. ''Early Medieval Art: Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque'', Thames & Hudson, 1964 (rev. 1969), *Kipfer, Barbara Ann. ''Encyclopedic dictionary of archaeology'', Springer, 2000, ,
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* Peter Lasko, Lasko, Peter, ''Ars Sacra, 800-1200'', Yale University Press, 1995 (2nd edn.) *Vincent Megaw, Megaw, Ruth and Vincent, ''Celtic Art: From Its Beginnings to the Book of Kells'', 1989 (2001 2nd edn), Thames & Hudson *Sandars, Nancy K., ''Prehistoric Art in Europe'', Penguin (Pelican, now Yale, History of Art), 1968 (nb 1st edn.) *Witt, Reginald Eldred. ''Isis in the ancient world'', JHU Press, 1997 (2nd ed), ,
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