PIATO AND KOUPPA

 

Written sources dating to the 18th-19th century refer to vessels used for the consumption of food at the table with the terms piato, skoutelli, sagani or sachani, pladeron or pladeramon and sigetton. These differences in nomenclature reflect their differences in form. Specifically, the skoutelli was a type of shallow bowl or deep plate, the pladeron or pladeramon was a type of shallow, open plate, while the sagani/sachani and the sigetton were metallic, open and shallow vessels on occasion with a lid. Smaller types of plates were used to serve sweets.

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Surviving samples of plates, either of ceramic or metal (usually copper/bronze) allow the examination of the form and function of vessels used daily at the table.

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Copper plates were shallow open vessels with a flat, circular base, vertical walls and a projecting flat rim. Their interior was usually tinned.

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The ceramic plates were either crudely made clay vessels or glazed ceramic plates known as kouppes or skoutellia. The Lapithos workshops produced mostly deeper glazed kouppes from refined buff clay, which were circulated all over the island. These had a circular flat base, high outwards leaning walls and a flattened wide rim. These were glazed internally and externally up to the rim and sometimes had decoration in green paint. It was customary for all members of the family to eat from the same kouppa at the table. In more recent years, metal kouppes made of zinc became as popular as the ceramic ones.

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Imported plates with ornate and colourful depictions were not destined for daily use, but were mostly reserved for the decoration of the home. These were often placed alongside the souvantzes, plaster or wooden ornate shelves. More rarely, such imported plates were embedded into the walls and above the entrances of monuments or the home, sometimes in groups forming a cross.