Ancient Greece, Mycenaean Period, Late Bronze Age, ca. 14th to 13th century BCE. A lovely wheel-thrown bi-chrome pottery cup with a planar base, a cylindrical body with a flared neck leading to a broad rim, a single spout set 90 degrees to the loop handle. The body is decorated with three horizontal bands of iridescent black slip at the lower end; horizontal frets also delineated in iridescent black slip adorn the handle; swooping marks adorn the underside of the spout and the interior is covered in the same iridescent black slip. The underside of the base is unadorned. With its elegant form and decorative program, this mug is emblematic of this fascinating and almost-mythical period, immortalized in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Size: 5" W from end of spout to opposite side x 2.5" H (12.7 cm x 6.4 cm)
The Mycenaean period is so named for the palace at Mycenae, famed in Homeric legend as the opulent seat of King Agamemnon - excavations there revealed an elite and long-lasting society with a great deal of wealth. This extended to the workshops of artisans who produced pottery like this mug both for use in Greece and throughout the Mediterranean world; shiploads of similar jars went out as far as the Levant and Spain, carrying oil, wine, and other commodities.
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-Richard Wagner collection, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, acquired in the 1970s
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
#146169
Condition
Remarkably intact. Scattered mineral deposits across the surface, more visible on the buff areas. Black slip has developed an attractive iridescence.