Lot 25A
Ancient Greece, Cyprus, Late Bronze Age, ca. 1550 to 1200 BCE. A beautiful pottery vessel known as a milk bowl enveloped in cream-hued slip that is accentuated with several black-painted, lattice-pattern columns cascading from a similarly patterned top bar - a technique termed White Slip II. The hemispherical bowl features a rounded base with a thin rim surrounding the deep basin that is formed by molding the walls over the body of a gourd, while a horned handle protrudes from the backside. Size: 9.4" L x 7" W x 4.1" H (23.9 cm x 17.8 cm x 10.4 cm)
The construction method of using a gourd to shape the vessel is intriguing since ancient Greek, Cypriot, and Mediterranean cultures were already accustomed to using the wheel-throwing method of making pottery. The use of a gourd suggests that, despite how the potter's wheel facilitated and expedited the creation of large volumes of pottery vessels, there was still a demand for hand-built vessels from skilled artisans. Scholars have posited that milk bowls like this were desirable because they had impermeable surfaces that made them ideal for holding hot liquids like warmed milk.
For other examples of Cypriot pottery milk bowls, please see the Yale University Art Gallery (1912.135), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (74.51.1024), University of Chicago Smart Museum of Art (1967.115.40CYP), Stanford University Cantor Arts Center (JLS.2540), and Penn Museum (49-12-155).
Provenance: private Boulder, Colorado, USA collection, by inheritance, collected in the mid-1980s
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#191294
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Condition:
- Handle has been professionally repaired with break lines visible. Some restorations to small area near base and along fissure that spans from rim to bottom of basin. A few nicks and scuffs as shown, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, very nice presentation with good remains of painted decoration.
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