Daunian Terracotta Twin-Handled Cup

Discoid body and short tubular neck with everted rim, two loop handles. 561 grams, 19.2 cm



Ex London, UK gallery, 1971-early 2000s. Private collection, London.

With cylindrical body and broad bevelled shoulder, stepped foot, lateral squared loop handles and strap handle to shoulder, broad mouth; Side A: seated female in himation holding an offering bowl in her extended left hand; white detailing to the diadem, necklace, earrings, mirror in her right hand, rim of the bowl and elsewhere; Side B: reserved palmette motif extending to the shoulder and neck; repainted. 771 grams, 23 cm high



Acquired on the art market between the late 1990s and mid-2000s. Estate of the late Barry Paul Buxton (1944–2024), Oakham, Rutland. Acquired on the UK art market, 2025. Accompanied by a thermoluminescence analysis report no.N126a16 from Oxford Authentication.

Apulian red-figure had a strong influence on other Italian ceramics of the late 5th century B.C. and an even greater effect from around the middle of the 4th century, with potters and painters apparently migrating to Italic centres throughout Apulia, as well as to Metaponto, Paestum and other parts of Campania. Although it is most probable that Taranto was the main centre of production for Apulian red-figure, the recent extensive finds at Canosa, Melfi and other sites suggest that there were numerous Apulian centres of manufacture.

Comprising a squat body with a median band of vertical ribbing, a short neck with a broad flared rim, and a thickened outer rim, a flared foot; fluted strap handle and a U-section spout flared at the outer end. 211 grams, 14 cm



UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Private collection, London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13266-253452.

This jug can plausibly be placed in the Lydian world of western Anatolia during the Archaic period, when Lydia stood at the crossroads of the Greek and Near Eastern worlds. Far from being culturally isolated, Lydia was deeply involved in the exchange of artistic forms, luxury materials, and metalworking traditions that moved across the eastern Mediterranean in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. The attribution, therefore, suggests more than geography alone: it points to a wealthy and outward-looking culture in which prestige objects in precious metal carried both social and economic weight. Silver was especially important in this period. Before coinage became widespread, it functioned as a recognised store of value and circulated in weighed forms across the Mediterranean and Near East. In Lydia, its importance is sharpened by the region’s close association with the early history of coinage: ancient sources and modern scholarship alike connect the Lydians with the development of some of the earliest coined money, first in electrum and soon after in distinct gold and silver issues. A vessel such as this would therefore have been more than a practical object. Its material alone marked it as a possession of consequence, while its workmanship placed it firmly within the culture of elite display.