Lot 51
Classical World, Etruria, ca. early 6th century CE. A stunning chalice with a deep, slightly concave bowl and flaring, round, openwork foot with a narrow leg and four long, flattened strips down from the sides: two anthropomorphic depicting standing figures in long robes; the other two abstract panels that appear to show trees. This form is known as a caryatid chalice, a Rasmussen Type 1B. The body is a lustrous black. Items like these were wheel-made, with a foot that was thrown separately on the wheel and joined to the rest of the vase as the two pieces began to harden. It was then burnished with a slip and fired in a reducing atmosphere to produce this glossy black color, which is the famous Bucchero style. Size: 6.7" W x 7.35" H (17 cm x 18.7 cm)
This type of chalice was common during this period, and seems to have been inspired by Assyrian chalices imported from the Near East a century earlier. This chalice almost certainly came from a funerary context, placed in an opulent Etruscan tomb as an offering - many are known, for example, from the tombs of Poggio Renzo in Chiusi. However, it was probably placed there because similar - or maybe even the same - vessels were used in life by the people of Etruria; items placed in the tomb were meant to be a link between the world of the living and the dead, and to help furnish a symbolic domestic space for the deceased. Therefore, it seems likely that chalices like this one were also used by elite Etruscans for drinking wine or other beverages.
See a similar example, of Rasmussen Type 1B, at the British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=394257&partId=1
Provenance: ex private Cypress, Texas, USA collection, acquired at Royal Athena Gallery, New York, USA
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#132709
- Condition: Repaired from multiple large pieces. With small surface chips and nicks. Nicely preserved details.
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