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LOT 0082
Greek Campanian Black-Glazed Kernos
LATE 4TH CENTURY B.C.
6 1/4 in. (623 grams, 16 cm high).
Comprising a round pedestal supporting four small offering pots, interspersed with four female face protomes; looped handle to the centre with parallel strokes in low-relief.
ProvenanceFrom the West German collection of H.W.
Acquired from the De Mynter, Belgium, in 2011.
with Gorny and Mosch, Munich, 3 June 2017, no.52.
Private Portuguese R.M. collection.
Accompanied by a previous catalogue information slip.
Cf. Miše, M., Gnathia and related Hellenistic Ware on the East Adriatic Coast, Oxford, 2015, fig.5, p.45, for similar.
FootnotesThe kernos can be recognised by a series of small cups on the lip, with examples dating back to the Bronze Age. It was used to store offerings made to the gods, specifically in cults pertaining to Demeter and Persephone. The receptacles probably contained foodstuffs, or perhaps flowers, and a lamp was sometimes placed in the centre. Kernoses, such as this, were often carried in processions at the Eleusinian Mysteries (secret initiation rites celebrating the goddesses Demeter and Persephone) and were an important object for Greek religious life. Kernoses are thus closely related to the agrarian cult and to the myth of Persephone and Demeter, the goddess of fertility and agriculture. The myth is recounted on an Homeric Hymn (c. 650 B.C.) according to which Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, was seized by Hades, the king of the underworld, who brought her to his kingdom to make her his wife. Distraught, Demeter caused a terrible drought, which continued until Persephone returned to her mother from the underworld. Having consumed pomegranate seeds whilst she was in the Underworld, she was only able to be with her for a few months of the year.
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LOT 0082
Greek Campanian Black-Glazed Kernos
Estimate £1,500 - 2,000€1,740 - 2,320 (for guidance only)$2,030 - 2,700 (for guidance only)
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Attic Black-Figure Neck-Amphora with Gorgon and Quadriga Attributed to the Swing Painter
Circa 550 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £41,600
With inverted echinus lip and tall neck, a ribbed handle to each side with coiling lotus buds and palmettes beneath the handles; Side a) a running winged Gorgon depicted frontally, dressed in a black and red chiton; Side b) an aristocratic warrior wearing a Chalcidian helmet and driving a quadriga, the two central horses superimposed, the other two turned outward; a frieze of lotus buds and a band Greek key motifs below, the neck decorated with red and black palmettes, and elongated lotus blossoms; restored. 3.25 kg, 39 cm high
Acquired in Geneva in 1954. Formerly in the Y. Forrer collection, Geneva, Switzerland. Private collection, Switzerland, 1999. with Gorny & Mosch, Munich, 20 June 2012, no.73. 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.11798-206784.
This wonderful vase can be attributed to the Swing Painter, active in Athens during the last part of the 6th century B.C. Beazley named him after the subject of a girl on a swing that he painted more than once. He was a pot painter, perhaps a pupil of the Princeton Painter. His black-figure paintings included a range of mythological subjects and some quite unusual images. A very large number of vases have been attributed to his hand on the basis of style. Characteristic of his paintings are contemporary touches, such as the presence of hoplites, in mythological scenes (München, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 1385 [J 729], Beazley Archive Pottery Database 301590; Poseidon fighting the giant Polybotes, Louvre F226). An important artwork is the famous representation of the Tyrant Pysistratos and his Rabdophoroi (bodyguards armed with clubs, Athens National Archaeological Museum 15111, Beazley Archive Pottery Database 301523). -
Cypriot White-Slip Ware Tankard
Circa 1600-1450 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,300
Globular body above a flared foot, tapering neck and flared rim, two lateral strap handles (one absent) and broad thumb-rest with scooped slot to upper edge; applied bands of painted hatching in strap and lozenges panels. 550 grams, 20.5 cm
with Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 26 May 1982, no.411. with Christies, New York, 11 June 2003, no.95 (part). From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Christies catalogue pages and the original Christie's lot tag. -
Cypriot Red Polished Ware Jug Group
Early-Middle Bronze Age, circa 2700-1900 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £572
Group of three jugs each with spherical body and trumpet-shaped mouth, loop handle to one side. 750 grams total, 11.5-15.3 cm
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.