LOT 0054

Large Etruscan Terracotta Caeretan Cylinder-Stamped Brazier

7TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.

17 1/2 in. (9.4 kg, 44.5 cm wide).

Comprising a wide and shallow body with everted rim; the internal wall and the upper face of the rim decorated with a procession of nude men in knielauf position, some holding a lituus in their left hand with their right hand raised up towards the sky, the other figures with both of their hands raised up, the figures alternating with figures of lions and antelopes; rosette to the centre.

Acquired on the European art market in the early 2000s.
with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland.

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 search certificate number no.12776-237862.

Cf. Pieraccini, L., Around the hearth, Caeretan Cylinder-stamped braziers, Roma, 2003, pp.39ff., especially A6; cf. two braziers of the same typology in MET (accession nos.19.192.53 and 96.18.96) in De Puma. R.D., Etruscan Art in the Metropolitan Museum of New York, New York, 2013, figs.4.10a and 4.10b, p.119.

As can be discerned from the identifying marks under the vessels, Caeretan craftsmen used the potting wheel to produce the braziers, a technique introduced in Etruria in the 8th century B.C. They were usually decorated with one or more stamped friezes rolled onto the clay with a large cylindrical matrix before firing. The subjects of these friezes were adapted by the Etruscans from Near Eastern and Greek prototypes. Today, these braziers are found in chamber graves, but they were used in the daily life of Etruscans in domestic and sacred contexts, and employed as portable hearths. A famous example came from the Tomba Maroi III in the Banditaccia Necropolis at Cerveteri, now in the Museo of Villa Giulia, Rome (Pieraccini, 2003, fig.10). It was found perched on a stone seat, and within the burned brazier were burned remains, several eggs and three drinking cups.