Glossary Pottery and vessels
Lid
A cover for a jar, bowl or pyxis, often with a knob or loop handle and sometimes pierced so it could be tied down.
A lid is a separate cover made to fit the mouth of a vessel. Cypriot lids are usually disc or shallow dome shaped, with a central knob or a loop handle for lifting, and some carry pairs of small holes so that a cord could fasten them to the pot beneath. They were made in clay and, in the Early and Middle Bronze Age, also carved from chlorite and other soft stones.
Many lids are found apart from the vessels they once closed, so they appear in catalogues and excavation reports as separate objects. Matching a lid to a particular pot is often impossible, though lids of the same ware and decoration as a pyxis or bowl usually belong with that type. See all lids in the catalogue.
Related terms
- Pyxis
A small lidded box or jar, often cylindrical, used to hold cosmetics, jewellery or other small valuables.
- String-hole
A small hole pierced through a lug, rim or projection on a pot so it could be hung up or have a cover tied on with a cord.
- Open and closed shapes
The basic division of vessel forms: open shapes have a mouth as wide as the body, closed shapes narrow to a neck or small opening.