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LOT 0535
Greek Apulian Blackware Pyxis
CIRCA 4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.
4 1/4 in. (143 grams, 10.8 cm wide).
Black-glazed rounded body with two upright loop-handles, raised base, keeled edge with a thickened disc rim.
ProvenanceEx P. A., Hertfordshire, UK, specialist collection of Greek art, 1980-1990s.
Accompanied by a copy of an old typed catalogue slip.
Cf. Sparkes, B., Talcott, L., Richter, G.M.A., The Athenian Agora, Vol. 12, Black and Plain Pottery of the 6th, 5th and 4th Centuries B.C., Athens, 1970, pl.43, pp.173 ff. (for various type of Pyxis).
FootnotesThis pyxis was once fitted with a lid for cosmetics, powder or jewellery. Greek pottery from southern Italy is most easily identified by its glossy black finish, as seen here. It was the product of the Magna Graecia, especially in Apulia, a region in southern Italy populated by Greek colonists from the 8th century B.C. onwards, which imitated the artistic workshops of Attica and developed its own style.
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LOT 0535
Greek Apulian Blackware Pyxis
Estimate £200 - 300€230 - 350 (for guidance only)$270 - 410 (for guidance only)
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Greek Canosan Terracotta Anthropomorphic Oinochoe
Circa 4th century B.C.Estimate: £800 - 1,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £400
The body formed as a female bust with elaborately styled hair; discoid foot, tall stem with pinched rim giving a broad pouring lip, strap handle to the rear; some pigment remaining. 446 grams, 22.2 cm high
Old French private collection. Swiss private collection, Basel-Landschaft. Private collection of M. Tritten, Binningen, Switzerland. Property of an East Sussex, UK, gentleman. -
Greek Terracotta Protome Mask
Late 6th-early 5th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
Modelled as a female head with rounded oval face, slightly bulging eyes and pronounced chin, indistinct smiling mouth with thin lips, outline of ears; low straight polos with fastening hole. 142 grams, 13 cm
Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.
The figure belongs to a common type known from mainland Greece and the islands. The head clearly shows the so-called 'Archaic smile' visible on the dedicatory protomes of the same typology. They were terracotta votive offerings attached with a nail to the shrine of a goddess for ex-voto or to receive the grace of the represented goddess (Demeter?). -
Greek Terracotta Figural Plaque
4th-3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
Comprising two acephalic nude figures: the female shown from behind with rounded buttocks and a voluminous garment draped over her shoulders; the male figure shown frontally with his weight on his left leg, leaning against the female, left hand resting on his hip; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 197 grams, 10.3 cm high (344 grams total, 15 cm high including stand)
Ex French Sorbonne archaeology professor (deceased); 1960s-2000s.
The couple represented here could be a depiction of Eros and Psyche. Terracotta figurines of these divinities are quite common in Hellenistic Asia Minor, the Black Sea, the Near East, with examples from Amisos, Ephesos, Priene and possibly Smyrna, but also in the Cyrenaica and in Sicily. In mainland Greece there are a few examples of related types from Beroia and Pella. However, not all the figurines of couples depict Eros and Psyche. Different types are known from other areas of Greece in the late Hellenistic period, on Crete there are close parallels from the Idaean cave.
