CIRCA LATE 5TH CENTURY B.C.

This askos, in the form of a siren, may have been used either for pouring ointments, as toys, or, as suggested in J. M. Padgett et al., Vase Painting in Italy, Boston, 1993, p. 187, no. 106, as feeder flasks for infants, as evinced by the angle of the spout and their novelty shape. Cf. B.H.M. Heldring, Sicilian Plastic Vases, Utrecht, 1981, p. 86, no. 22, fig. 8,11, for a similar example.