Eastern Mediterranean Two-Handled Vase

Conical in profile with a rounded apex, aqua glass with three incised bands below the rim on the inner face. 380 grams, 16 cm wide



Dr Jutaro Kawabe, Nagoya, Japan, his collection formed in the 1960s-1970s. with Hoshigaoka Gallery until the late 1990s. 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.12949-245243.

On ancient glass, iridescence is the soft play of colour that develops as the surface ages and becomes silica-rich. Minute layers form over time and break light into shifting blues, greens and golds. It is not a modern finish but something time has drawn out of the material itself, so the pattern and palette are unique to each piece. Collectors prize good, stable iridescence because it lifts the form: ribs read more crisply, profiles glow, and simple vessels take on depth and movement. Museums now tend to preserve these surfaces rather than polish them away, recognising both their beauty and what they tell us about an object’s long life (though it is not, by itself, a dating test). For display, iridescent glass performs brilliantly under gentle, directional light, where the colours “turn” as the vessel is moved. Well-preserved, even iridescence of this quality is not common and adds materially to the presence—and desirability—of the piece.

Comprising a bell-shaped thin-walled body with two strap handles and an everted rim, dark lip with a thin circumferential band below; each handle with a lentoid motif; narrow foot with two circumferential bands above. 206 grams, 16 cm wide



From the estate of a Swiss gentleman, Ticino, before 1970. with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland.

Daunian pottery is characterised by unique shapes and decorative motifs, which include geometric patterns, plant and animal motifs, and human figures. The pottery is typically made from a coarse clay, and it is decorated with black or dark brown slip, a type of liquid clay that is applied to the surface of the pottery before firing.

Shallow, round body with everted rim on the filler hole, tapering nozzle and low foot. 80.5 grams, 88 mm



Private collection, Oxfordshire, UK, by direct descent from the collection of Judge George Cyril Griffith-Williams (1893-1983), Supreme Court Judge of the Colony of Cyprus; items having been collected in the 1930s and 1940s in Cyprus during his tenure there.