Details

LOT 0083

Mycenaean Painted Pottery Flask

14TH-13TH CENTURY B.C.

4 3/8 in. (132 grams, 11.1 cm).

Comprising a circular body with a rounded base and two strap handles, a short neck with an everted rim; the body with a painted expanding cross motif with the arms separated by a band of pellets.

Provenance

Private collection, Switzerland, acquired in the 1994.
Private family collection since the late 1990s.

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.13018-246795.

Literature

Cf. Karageorghis, V., Cipro, Crocevia del Mediterraneo Orientale, 1500-500 d.C., Milano, 2002, p.46, figs.86-88, for similar pottery.

Footnotes

Mycenaean ceramics were influenced by Minoan shapes and decorative styles from the late Middle Helladic period. This close relationship – likely accompanied by the development of shared cultural practices and etiquette – creates the hypothesis that pilgrim flasks were introduced to Greece via Crete. Pilgrim flasks were produced in Mycenaean contexts from the Late Helladic IIA:1 period (1420-1390 B.C.).