Greek Red-Figure Squat Lekythos Attributed to the Meidian Painter

Modelled with large prominent ears and neatly cut short hair, rounded facial detailing with large eyes and flattened nose, the upper body and hands wrapped inside a pleated cloak, hollow to the reverse; the bust emerging from a lotus flower resting atop a lion's claw foot with a mounting spike on the reverse; mounted on a display stand. 130 grams total, 11.9 cm including stand



Collection of Ambassador G.P., nr.126, before 1965. with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland.

Comprising a squat body with a median band of vertical ribbing, a short neck with a broad flared rim, and a thickened outer rim, a flared foot; fluted strap handle and a U-section spout flared at the outer end. 211 grams, 14 cm



UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Private collection, London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13266-253452.

This jug can plausibly be placed in the Lydian world of western Anatolia during the Archaic period, when Lydia stood at the crossroads of the Greek and Near Eastern worlds. Far from being culturally isolated, Lydia was deeply involved in the exchange of artistic forms, luxury materials, and metalworking traditions that moved across the eastern Mediterranean in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. The attribution, therefore, suggests more than geography alone: it points to a wealthy and outward-looking culture in which prestige objects in precious metal carried both social and economic weight. Silver was especially important in this period. Before coinage became widespread, it functioned as a recognised store of value and circulated in weighed forms across the Mediterranean and Near East. In Lydia, its importance is sharpened by the region’s close association with the early history of coinage: ancient sources and modern scholarship alike connect the Lydians with the development of some of the earliest coined money, first in electrum and soon after in distinct gold and silver issues. A vessel such as this would therefore have been more than a practical object. Its material alone marked it as a possession of consequence, while its workmanship placed it firmly within the culture of elite display.

Comprising a large convex bow decorated with deep grooves, and a fragment of a convex footplate, likely from the same brooch. 80.2 grams total, 88.7-95.5 mm



From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.