Storage Vessels

Pithari (pithos or storage jar). A large vessel for storing olive oil, capacity 150-300 litres, with thin but very strong sides and three handles. This form remained unchanged for 4000 years.

Krasopitharo (wine jar) . Wine has been stored in pithoi since Minoan times. The wine was tapped from a small hole in the lower part of the jar, while the mouth was covered with a large clay lid. This pithos is the work of potters from Thrapsano, dating from the 16th century. It bears decorative bands with geometric patterns and a cylinder seal impression. Wine jars were used in Crete up to the mid-20th century.

Pithari (pithos). Contains olive oil and bears a cylinder seal impression in three bands. Thrapsano, 17th century.

Tzara. Jar for storing olive oil, characteristic of potters from Margarites. The whole surface is covered with bands produced by a toothed wheel, 16th – 17th century.

Tzara. Oil jar covered with cylinder seal inscriptions with the name of the potter, ΜΑΡCΟ ΦΑΡΥΝ (Marco Faryn) and that of the small village of ΑΛΦΑ (Alpha) where he worked, near Margarites.

Faryn and his sons were active from the mid-16th to the early 17th century.

Koroni Pithos. During the 18th century, pithoi from Koroni, a large pottery centre of the southern Peloponnese, began to be imported, mainly to western Crete. These are glazed on the inside and partly on the outside. Some producers preferred them for storing wine and oil.

Margarites pithos. An imitation of Koroni pithoi. 18th century.

Pitharaki (small jar). A small storage jar from 20 to 100 kilos for storing various goods such as salt pork, olives, salt etc.