Cypriot Trefoil Mouthed Terracotta Jug

Bulbous in profile with rounded underside, broad rounded rim to the mouth. 1.6 kg, 21 cm high



Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.

Comprising a wide foot beneath a squat stem with a bulbous body, a sloped shoulder beneath a columnar neck, a flared rim, and a pair of applied strap handles arching between rim and shoulder; body decorated with eight slender, vertical ribs surrounded by pecked stippling; two lateral bosses beneath a parabolic arch; surface burnished throughout; foot restored. 1.29 kg, 22.1 cm



From the collection of Eleanor Hilowitz (1913-2007), an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor, New York, USA; acquired between 1956 and 1975. Acquired by Randall Hixenbaugh of Hixenbaugh Ancient Art, New York, USA, in 2007. with Artemis Gallery, 26 September 2019, lot 54 (US$2,000-3,000). Property of a South Australian private collector, with collection reference 20.03. Accompanied by detailed collector's catalogue pages including description and photograph.

With elegant fluted body, drum foot and elaborate up-swung handles, displaying polychrome panels on both sides, between a laurel wreath below the rim and a band of Greek meander motif; Side A: the hero Bellerophon riding Pegasus, wearing a Thessalian hat (petasos), depicted nude except for a cloak fastened at the centre of the neck by a round clasp, the hero towering above the other two mythological characters beneath him: Princess Filinoe, on the left, crowned and dressed in a long chiton, and King Iobates of Lycia, dressed in Persian fashion with a long sleeved red tunic worn under a long dress, the field with a representation of an altar, two palm branches over a volute krater, a shield, a javelin, a lotus flower, and above the hero a hanging shield and two clamydes; Side B: figure of a young beardless man, wrapped in a large cloak and holding a staff, with windows and floral scrolls on the background. 7.6 kg, 56 cm high



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. From the family collection of Mr S.A., Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection since the late 1990s. 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.12068-218200.

The decoration is very different on the two sides: on the main one, the painter has created a large mythological scene as if it was a summary. The scene comprising the famous hero Bellerophon riding Pegasus, the winged horse, flying above Iobates and his daughter (who will become the hero's wife). The king sent Bellerophon to perform impossible mission, among which the best known is the fight against the Chimera (monster with the body of a lion and a goat, with a snake's tail and two heads, one of a lion and the other of a goat).