Greek Terracotta Gnathian-Ware Alabastron

APULIAN, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.

5 1/4 in. (255 grams, 14.5 cm).

Piriform in profile with a carinated rim to the mouth, a low basal ring; horizontal bands and a hatched panel, concentric rings.

Provenance

Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819-1899) collection, France.
European private collection, 2009.

Literature

Cf. similar alabastron in the British Museum, London, inv.no.1836.0224.340 in Nicol, W., Old Catalogue, A catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, London, 1804, no.1472; another similar alabastron in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, accession no.161-D1A.

Footnotes

Among the shapes of pottery that are also mostly represented in the Gnathian style are lekanides, bombilyoi and alabastra. They were containers for ointments and perfumes, used in funerary contexts during the first phase of the ritual, when the body needed to be treated and prepared for the burial.

CONDITION

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LOT 0084