Cypriot Painted White-Slip Ware Jug

Comprising a bulbous body with slightly conical underside, tapering tubular neck and everted flange rim, loop handle to the shoulder; restored. 1.03 kg, 25.5 cm



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.

Wheelmade red lustrous ware was a ceramic of foreign origin which found its way into Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age, when international trade was widespread. According to Karageorghis it originated in Anatolia during the early Bronze Age but was known in Alasya (Cyprus) during the Late Bronze Age II.

Comprising a round pedestal supporting four small offering pots, interspersed with four female face protomes; looped handle to the centre with parallel strokes in low-relief. 623 grams, 16 cm high



From the West German collection of H.W. Acquired from the De Mynter, Belgium, in 2011. with Gorny and Mosch, Munich, 3 June 2017, no.52. Private Portuguese R.M. collection. Accompanied by a previous catalogue information slip.

The kernos can be recognised by a series of small cups on the lip, with examples dating back to the Bronze Age. It was used to store offerings made to the gods, specifically in cults pertaining to Demeter and Persephone. The receptacles probably contained foodstuffs, or perhaps flowers, and a lamp was sometimes placed in the centre. Kernoses, such as this, were often carried in processions at the Eleusinian Mysteries (secret initiation rites celebrating the goddesses Demeter and Persephone) and were an important object for Greek religious life. Kernoses are thus closely related to the agrarian cult and to the myth of Persephone and Demeter, the goddess of fertility and agriculture. The myth is recounted in an Homeric Hymn (c. 650 B.C.) according to which Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, was seized by Hades, the king of the underworld, who brought her to his kingdom to make her his wife. Distraught, Demeter caused a terrible drought, which continued until Persephone returned to her mother from the underworld. Having consumed pomegranate seeds whilst she was in the Underworld, she was only able to be with her for a few months of the year.

Squat skyphos on a low, pared conical base; two small horizontal handles round in section, short flaring everted rim; painted in dark brown with decoration limited to two window-like areas between the handles; on either side of the bowl two large ducks moving to the right with incision and overpaint clarifying the mass of the bodies, wings indicated with two quick horizontal strokes and a row of pendant arcs or scallops with dots of red and white overpaint for a rich, feathered effect; rosettes filling the space around the ducks. 257 grams, 18 cm wide



In the collection of Mr Ulfert Wilke, founding Director of the University of Iowa Museum of Art. Acquired from Ulfert Wilke on 29 May 1968. From the collection of Dr Howard Sirak, Columbus, Ohio, USA. Ex I.M. Chait Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, 14 December 2020, lot 212. Property of a South Australian private collector, with collection reference 20.34. Accompanied by detailed collector's catalogue pages including description and photograph.

The catalogue cites this piece as no. 3.10 from the Wilke Collection and the original sticker is on the base. The catalogue was for the exhibition at the University of Iowa Museum of Art from 17 March to 30 April 1971.