South Italian Terracotta Painted Jug

Comprising a round pedestal supporting four small offering pots, interspersed with four female face protomes; looped handle to the centre with parallel strokes in low-relief. 623 grams, 16 cm high



From the West German collection of H.W. Acquired from the De Mynter, Belgium, in 2011. with Gorny and Mosch, Munich, 3 June 2017, no.52. Private Portuguese R.M. collection. Accompanied by a previous catalogue information slip.

The kernos can be recognised by a series of small cups on the lip, with examples dating back to the Bronze Age. It was used to store offerings made to the gods, specifically in cults pertaining to Demeter and Persephone. The receptacles probably contained foodstuffs, or perhaps flowers, and a lamp was sometimes placed in the centre. Kernoses, such as this, were often carried in processions at the Eleusinian Mysteries (secret initiation rites celebrating the goddesses Demeter and Persephone) and were an important object for Greek religious life. Kernoses are thus closely related to the agrarian cult and to the myth of Persephone and Demeter, the goddess of fertility and agriculture. The myth is recounted on an Homeric Hymn (c. 650 B.C.) according to which Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, was seized by Hades, the king of the underworld, who brought her to his kingdom to make her his wife. Distraught, Demeter caused a terrible drought, which continued until Persephone returned to her mother from the underworld. Having consumed pomegranate seeds whilst she was in the Underworld, she was only able to be with her for a few months of the year.

The Etrusco-Italic warrior Laran (Roman Mars) modelled in the round, representing a young muscular hero with long torso and rounded shoulders, wearing a high-crested Illyrian helmet with grooved perimeter, a hole above each ear for attaching an ornament; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 326 grams total, 16.2 cm high including stand



Ex Koutoulakis collection. Ex Gorny & Mosch, Munich, 17 June 1999, no.2051. with Sotheby's, New York, 12 June 2001, no.16. 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.11803-206793.

The statuette assumes the position of the 'warring Mars', which characterises the numerous Etruscan and Italic statues of the god produced as votive offerings to the temples or for private lararia. The god is depicted as taking part in a military march with his left leg advancing, his raised right would have held a spear and the left hand a shield.

Biconvex body with trumpet-shaped mouth and two lateral loop handles; painted concentric circles to the body. 330 grams, 15.3 cm



From an old Lebanese family collection moved to Germany in the middle of the 1970s. Acquired from Bonhams, London, 20 October 2005, no.424 (part). From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages and the original Bonhams lot tag.