Ritzdekor

The oval spherical-depressed body of the lidded box (pyxis) with flattened bottom has an oval opening on top with the rim slightly curved inwards. On the shoulder there are two vertical knobs, each with two horizontal holes for attaching a lid. The rectangular, flat lid with rounded edges has two holes on each of its long sides. Along both narrow sides there is an incised decoration with a vertical band of ten and eleven parallel lines respectively, surrounded by fourteen concentric semi-circles on either side with a dot in the middle. Along both long sides run three vertical bands with seven parallel lines; in between are two vertical rows of transversal, opposing zigzag line groups (six lines each). At the edge of each long side is a vertical transversally stroked band, framed by vertical, small rows of strokes. At the transition between the long and narrow sides, one group of eight short, straight, horizontal lines on either side. On the lid a linear ornament with parallel lines along the whole long side (rims, middle), in the interstices, vertical and horizontal groups of lines alternately. The lidded box discovered in 1885 in a tomb at Ayia Paraskevi belongs to the type of pottery characteristic of the red polished ware II, which is substantiated primarily by tomb finds at Vounos. The oval pyxides, the forms of which can presumably be ascribed to Neolithic stone vessels of the Khirokitia culture, present incised decorations throughout. Some vessels have top decorations in the form of human beings or animals.

A. Bernhard-Walcher u.a., Die Sammlung zyprischer Antiken im KHM. Sammlungskataloge des KHM Bd. 2, Wien 1999