Cypriot Painted White-Slip Ware Jug

A wide bowl with carinated lip and lateral lug handle on a flat base; decorated on both sides with umber pigment on a white slip; to the outer face, a snake and band motif; to the inner face, multiple bands of crescentic, triangular net and zig-zag motifs; to the underside, low-relief inscription (partly legible). 535 grams, 23.5 cm



Tackey Crist, Cyprus Museum collection, NC, USA. Ex Leland Little auctions. with Cyprus Museum of Jacksonville, North Carolina, USA.

The piece is reminiscent of earlier white-painted wares of the middle-late Cypriot period. Although wheel-made white-painted ware is known from as far back as the Late Cypriot period (1300-1200 B.C.), the present piece must date to the Roman occupation of the island (from approximately the 2nd century B.C. onwards) because of the reserved (not impressed) Latin characters extant on the underside. The characters appear to have been applied to the clay whilst the vessel was wet. The inscription is impossible to decipher fully but contains the characters ... IN... ..AN.... ...DE M..... The use of 'D rather than Greek delta 'Δ' implies a Latin text.

Comprising discoid cells each with shallow sidewall and flange rim, granule collar with radiating clusters. 1.62 grams total, 19 mm each



From a late Japanese specialist collector, 1970-2000s.

Standing erect on a square base wearing an ankle-length robe with mantle with segmented edge draped from the left shoulder, left arm straight at his side right arm bent and fist clenched at the breast; hair cut in a bobbed style with frontal band, collected in a Near-Eastern head-cloth falling down his back; bare feet with toes emphasised; mounted on a custom-made stand. 7.3 kg, 55.5 cm including stand



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12046-217199.

The sculpture is a good example of the mixed Near Eastern and Attic Ionian styles reflected in Cypriot sculpture. Cypriot art was often influenced by both Greek and Near Eastern styles, although in phase H of the archaic period (680-400 B.C.) the Greek influence became stronger, perhaps as a result of intensified trade and political contacts between the continent, Ionia and the Aegean islands.