Greek Painted Terracotta Storage Vessel

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. 623 grams, 16 cm high



From 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.

The 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.

Of square shape, used for making various jewellery elements: small circles, ear-drop pendants, rosettes with striated lines and locating holes on the surface. 114 grams, 63 mm



Collected from 1969-1999. From the collection of the late Mr S.M., London, UK.

Plaques of this type were half of a mould for small objects such as ribbed bobbin-shaped or spherical beads or crescent-shaped pendants. They must have been made for casting, judging by the pouring channels and the circular holes for fixing it to another corresponding half. Ribbed globular and ‘grain of wheat’ gold beads were common in Cyprus and Crete. Similar moulds with pouring channels have been found in the Near East, while open moulds intended for glass ornaments with flat backs have been found in the Aegean.

Hemispherical in form with spur to the rim, pierced for attachment; repaired. 277 grams, 12 cm wide



Ex Peter Negus collection (1920-2012), a prolific collector who worked in the insurance industry for most of his life. His wife worked for Coutts Bank for many years and they shared an enormous passion for natural history, geology and archaeology, amassing a collection. He was a member of the Geologists’ Association for over 50 years, acting as Treasurer from 1979 to 1988. Acquired from Bonhams, London, 26 October 2007, no.354 (part). From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages and an old identification tag.