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LOT 0095
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 in 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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Greek Painted Terracotta Rhyton Fragment
Circa 4th-2nd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
Finial from a rhyton with stylised zoomorphic detailing: elongated snout, applied lozengiform eyes in lobe protrusions, horns or antlers above; curved conical body with tiered inner face, applied red pigment detailing. 442 grams, 15.5 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. -
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Monumental Greek Apulian Red-Figure Calyx-Krater
Late 4th century B.C.Estimate: £18,000 - 24,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £10,000
With elegant fluted body, drum foot and elaborate up-swung handles, displaying polychrome panels on both sides, between a laurel wreath below the rim and a band of Greek meander motif; Side A: the hero Bellerophon riding Pegasus, wearing a Thessalian hat (petasos), depicted nude except for a cloak fastened at the centre of the neck by a round clasp, the hero towering above the other two mythological characters beneath him: Princess Filinoe, on the left, crowned and dressed in a long chiton, and King Iobates of Lycia, dressed in Persian fashion with a long sleeved red tunic worn under a long dress, the field with a representation of an altar, two palm branches over a volute krater, a shield, a javelin, a lotus flower, and above the hero a hanging shield and two clamydes; Side B: figure of a young beardless man, wrapped in a large cloak and holding a staff, with windows and floral scrolls on the background. 7.6 kg, 56 cm high
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. From the family collection of Mr S.A., Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection since the late 1990s. 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.12068-218200.
The decoration is very different on the two sides: on the main one, the painter has created a large mythological scene as if it was a summary. The scene comprising the famous hero Bellerophon riding Pegasus, the winged horse, flying above Iobates and his daughter (who will become the hero's wife). The king sent Bellerophon to perform impossible mission, among which the best known is the fight against the Chimera (monster with the body of a lion and a goat, with a snake's tail and two heads, one of a lion and the other of a goat). -
Cypriot Geometric Terracotta Jar
9th-8th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Globular in form with trumpet-shaped mouth, painted band to neck. 490 grams, 14 cm high
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
