Vinca Pottery Seated Figure w/ TL - ex Sotheby's

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Exceptional Day 1: Antiquities Asian Fine Art...

By Artemis Gallery

May 22, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-05-22 10:00:00 2019-05-22 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Day 1: Antiquities Asian Fine Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-day-1-antiquities-asian-fine-art-4129
Day 1 of an important 2-day auction featuring exceptional art from around the world - Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Viking, Russian, Near Eastern; Asian Art from China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, India; Fine Art from the 17th century to present. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Central Europe, Neolithic Period, Vinca culture, ca. 5700 to 4500 BCE. A charming, seated ceramic figure depicting a woman with a large, trapezoidal head, large, half-circle incised eyes, and a pronounced nose. One side of the head has a drilled hole which may have once held an earring and which was probably matched on the other side of the head before the loss. She sits on a stool and is depicted wearing a skirt, necklace, and arm bands, all delineated by incised lines. Her breasts are exposed, which researchers believe was a common style of dress at the time. A depression in the center of her lap may once have held offerings or another figure, perhaps a child. One of her most interesting features is her legs, shown crossed at the ankle in a remarkably lifelike and intimate pose in contrast to the abstract form of her head and upper body. Size: 3.9" W x 6.9" H (9.9 cm x 17.5 cm); 8.1" H (20.6 cm) on included custom stand.
  
  Remains of white pigment are in the incised lines. This may have been a vessel lid, as Vinca potters are known to have produced a wide array of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic lids. Many such figures were found at the cultural type site, a large burial mound at Vinca-Belo on the banks of the Danube River near Belgrade. The Vinca produced striking and unique pottery throughout the Neolithic, much of it figural. Some scholars have linked the rise of these figurines to an increasing sense of place and ownership in the landscape; people at this time seemed to be very interested marking their location and returning again and again to certain spaces in the landscape, and there is speculation that figurines like this one may have been representative of individuals and left in places to denote ownership or at least a connection to the geography.
  
  This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis and has been found to be ancient and consistent with the date listed; if purchased, you will receive a report confirming its age.
  
  Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-Sotheby's, New York, USA, November 18, 1991, Sale 6239, lot 241; ex-private New York, USA collection; ex-private Chicago, Illinois, USA collection
  
  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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  #146814

  Condition

  Small restoration on underside to cover TL drill hole. Both arms have been repaired and restored with modern clay. Head has been reattached, with break line well repaired and difficult to see. Ancient loss to side of head and to bottom of base, also restored. All restoration is excellently done and very difficult to see. Some of the original pigment and soil deposits remain.
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