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LOT 0085
Proto-Corinthian Painted Terracotta Aryballos
7TH CENTURY B.C.
4 1/8 in. (79 grams, 10.5 cm).
Comprising a piriform body and a tubular neck with a wide rim, a strap handle to the rear, the rim with painted polychrome petals, the pattern repeating beneath the neck and on the base of the vessel; the body decorated with fishscale decoration.
ProvenanceSwiss private collection, assembled in the 1960s and 1970s.
Acquired by the present owner in 2004.
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.30017-246794.
Cf. for similar aryballoi, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession nos.37.128.1 and 07.286.38; cf. also Anderson, J.K., ‘The Corinthian Pottery’ in Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol.53/54 (1958/1959), pp.138-151, no.84 pl.24; Saka A. and Aktaş R., ‘A group of archaic pottery from Çandarli at the Izmir Archaeological Museum in Gürtekin Demir R.G., Cevizoğlu, H., Polat Y. & Polat G. (eds), Archaic and Classical Western Anatolia: New Perspectives in Ceramic Studies, Proceedings of the second Keramos international conference at Ege University, Izmir, 3–5 June, 2015, Leuven – Paris – Bristol, 2018 cat.12-13 p.272; a lower portion of a similar Proto-Corinthian piriform aryballos was found in Sardis, see Sardis Museum inventory no.P61.252, and Schaeffer, J., Monograph 10: The Corinthian, Attic, and Lakonian Pottery from Sardis, Harvard, 1997, cat.no.48; for a comprehensive list of other examples in public and private collections see the fundamental work of Neeft, C.W., Protocorinthian Subgeometric Aryballoi (Allard Pierson Series, vol. 7), Amsterdam, 1987, pp. 282f., list 274, CX, CXI, CXIII, CXIV: NC 478A type1; on the scale patterns in general, ibid. pp.275-289.
FootnotesThe aryballoi were used to hold perfumed oil, an essential item for the wealthy middle classes of the time. Similar piriform vases are fairly common in Corinthian contexts. There is utmost precision in both the potting and the execution of the incised scale pattern of the present example. The fish-scale decoration was realised with the incision technique, by executing the scales neatly with their ends meeting.
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LOT 0085
Proto-Corinthian Painted Terracotta Aryballos
Estimate £2,000 - 3,000€2,320 - 3,480 (for guidance only)$2,700 - 4,050 (for guidance only)
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Greek Bronze Laconian Horse
5th-1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Protome formed as the upper body of a horse with forelegs bent and head turned; ribbed saddlecloth to the back; remains of attachment peg to underside. 27.8 grams, 49 mm
Acquired by a Swiss family in the mid-1980s to late 1990s, thence by descent. Private collection, Switzerland, since the late 1990s. -
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Greek Red-Figure Kantharos with Lady of Fashion
Apulian, 3rd-2nd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,040
High-handled cup with flared body and a tall offset foot with a collar, coiled lateral handles; profile 'ladies of fashion' busts with white and cream detailing to the hair, diadem and earrings. 415 grams, 18.6 cm
Acquired on the art market between the late 1990s and mid-2000s. Estate of the late Barry Paul Buxton (1944–2024), Oakham, Rutland. Acquired on the UK art market, 2025. -
Cypriot Terracotta Horse and Rider Figure
8th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,560
A horse and rider figure modelled in the round, standing on elongated stub legs, stout neck with stylised painted mane and coat detailing, waisted muzzle with raised almond-shaped eyes defined by painted roundels, solid colouring to the muzzle and short tail; rider represented by a torso and D-shaped head, arms reaching for the horse's neck and gripping its mane, painted detailing to the arms, hands and face. 206 grams, 15.5 cm wide
Fine condition.
London deceased estate, 1960s-1970s. Property of a Cambridgeshire, UK, gentleman. From the private collection of John Meredith, acquired since the 1990s; thence by descent.
Terracotta figurines of horse and rider were common grave offerings in Boeotia, northwest of Attica, particularly during the 6th century B.C. Representations of warriors on horseback were already diffused in the Geometric Period, and widely employed in Cyprus, in this same period. The image of our rider, although influenced by Cypriot designs, does not show typical Cypriot characteristics, and indeed his kausia cap suggests a northern Greek origin.
