Critical Archive of the Visual and Related Arts
Unknown Artists: Hvar
4th-millennium BCE, 3rd-millennium BCE
Zadar, Croatia: Archaeological Museum Zadar
44%
Ceremonial Vessel. c3500-2500 BCE. Ceramic
The sense of reciprocity that abided in earlier Danilo pottery between an object's overall structure and the designs which it bears on its surface had degenerated, by the Hvar millennium, to sheer obsessive markmaking. The incised patterns that cover this pot do not accent or complexify its shape; they are a caul. There is, of course, undeniable interest in the quadrupedal form of this culture's ritual vessels, but even here this piece cannot withstand comparison to similar Danilo vessels from centuries before: there is an unseemly literalness to the depiction that does not exist in the fantastical Danilo combinations of function and metaphorical significance. Those are dream creatures; this is a humdrum ox or bear. (TFS, 2025)