Early Cypriot Terracotta Bowl

Bulbous bodied with a cylindrical neck and everted rim, decorated with incised geometric motifs: chequered squares, vertical chevrons, hatched and striped lozenges, combed circumferential bands; accompanied by an acrylic display base. 375 grams, 20 cm high



Acquired in the 1990s. From the deceased estate of a North Yorkshire private collector, UK. Ex Den of Antiquity, Cambridgeshire, UK.

Red burnished-ware pottery became the dominant pottery ware lasting into the Middle Bronze Age on the island of Cyprus. Vessels were handmade and covered with a slip, which was burnished and often decorated with patterns incised with a sharp cutting edge before being fired. Potters were able to produce vessels that were either mottled or painted in two colours, often red outside and black inside and on the exterior of the rim.

Modelled with semi-naturalistic anatomical detailing, the base displaying a battle showing a mature and muscular naked man grappling with a winged gryphon; drilled for suspension. 2.29 grams, 16 mm



Ex F.A., Brussels, 1980. Private collection of a London antiquarian.

Combat between a man and gryphon is a well-attested subject matter on Greek scarabs. A faience factory was found in Naukratis by Flinders-Petrie, with innumerable faience and discarded moulds. The motifs on the bottom surface are repetitive and hurriedly worked. They depict lucky symbols or representative subjects (lions with sun disc, ibex, Horus falcons, lotus flowers); such motifs had already been adopted into Greek art but are generally considered typically Egyptian. Here the subject of a fight against a gryphon is Greek, although the style of the fighting character seems Phoenician, which points to Eastern Mediterranean workmanship, possibly on the Island of Rhodes.

Piriform-bodied with two handles flanking a stepped neck and mouth, stemmed foot with chamfered edge; polychrome painted shell ornament together with a figural panel; possibly a marriage. 1.6 kg, 37.5 cm high



Ex collection of a Suffolk, UK, gentleman, 1990s.