Miniature Greek Attic Lekythos w/ Portrait of Maiden

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Early Fall Variety | Ancient & Ethnographic

By Artemis Gallery

Oct 17, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-10-17 10:00:00 2019-10-17 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Early Fall Variety | Ancient & Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/early-fall-variety-ancient-ethnographic-4538
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• Lot Description
  **Originally Listed At $1000**
  
  Greek, Athens (Attic), ca. 5th century BCE. A precious Attic red-figured lekythos decorated with the bust of a beautiful young maiden on the body, two bands of frets on the shoulder, a black band beneath the red rim, a black lower body and foot with an incised red band at the upper end of the foot. Lekythoi were used for storing oil used for a wide variety of purposes in the Classical World. While larger examples were usually designated for keeping olive oil, smaller more delicate examples like this were reserved for the bath to store precious unguents of sweet and floral aromas. Size: 3.1" H (7.9 cm)
  
  Perhaps the most exciting innovation in Greek vase painting was the red-figure technique, invented in Athens around 525 BCE and beloved by other artists of Magna Graecia. The red-figure technique allowed for much greater flexibility as opposed to the black-figure technique, for now the artist could use a soft, pliable brush rather than a rigid metal graver to delineate interior details, play with the thickness of the lines, as well as build up or dilute glazes to create chromatic effects. The painter would create figures by outlining them in the natural red of the vase, and then enrich these figural forms with black lines to suggest volume, at times perspectival depth, and movement, bringing those silhouettes and their environs to life.
  
  Provenance: private Owen collection, Sussex County, New Jersey, USA, acquired in the 1990s from a US-based dealer
  
  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.
  
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  #146043

  Condition

  Repair to neck and upper handle. Nicks to rim, periphery of shoulder, and base. Normal scuffs commensurate with age. Still an exceptional miniature vessel with beautiful imagery.
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