Greek Corinthian Aryballos

Spherical body with trumpet-shaped mouth and loop handle to the shoulder, painted spirals to each face. 124 grams, 99 mm



From an old Lebanese family collection moved to Germany in the middle of the 1970s. Acquired from Bonhams, London, 20 October 2005, no.424 (part). From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages and the original Bonhams lot tag.

Enlivened with crimson, ochre and white slip; with rays on the neck, the shoulder showing a lady of fashion lying, adorned with earrings and bracelets, holding a patera in her right hand, and foliate sprigs in the field; palmette at the base of the handle, and grape vine on the cotton reel body. 229 grams, 16.5 cm



Ex Ancient Art Shop, Windsor, UK, in the 1990s. Heads and Tales exhibition, Piccadilly, London, 2002. From the collection of PA, Hertfordshire, UK.

Stretched-out figures of women or Eros appear frequently on the shoulders of epichyseis in the Menzies group. This epichyseis substituted the image of a woman to that of Eros, sitting nude in other identical vessels on a dotted white and white-stripe ground line with his legs outstretched before him. The woman holds in his right hand a patera, exactly as the Eros on the epichyses in the Getty Museum. The position of the woman, the treatment of the dress and the position of the legs, as well as the palmette decoration and adjuncts would suggest to associate the vase with the Menzies Group.

The figure comprising a stylised horse with elongated neck, mounted by a bearded rider figure holding a shield, restored; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 323 grams total, 13 cm including stand



Acquired before 1990. From an old German collection.