An Attic Pottery Pyxis, Geometric Period, 8th Century B.C.

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July 5, 02:05 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

An Attic Pottery Pyxis

Geometric Period, 8th Century B.C.

the body decorated with encircling bands beneath a meander pattern alternating with two sets of twin metopes, one metope painted with a swastika and the other with four rows of linked circles, the lid decorated with concentric bands and surmounted by two horses, each with a concentric almond-shaped motif beneath, their eyes composed of concentric circles bordered with dots, two perforations for attachment at opposite sides of the lid, a rosette painted on the interior and a more elaborate one on the underside.

Diameter 33 cm.

André Emmerich Gallery, New York

Alan and Marianne Schwartz, Michigan, acquired from the above on May 6th, 1965

then by descent to the present owner

Published

Early Art in Greece. The Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean, and Geometric Periods, 3000-700 B.C. An exhibition organized in cooperation with Dr. Herbert A. Cahn, Münzen & Medaillen A.G., Basle, Switzerland, catalogue of the exhibition at the André Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1965, no. 121, illus.

Detroit Collects: Antiquities, checklist of the exhibition at the Detroit Museum of Arts, 1973

Barbara Bohen, Die geometrischen Pyxiden (Kerameikos, vol. 13), Berlin, 1988, p. 63, cat. no. X 2

Exhibited

André Emmerich Gallery, New York, "Early Art in Greece. The Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean, and Geometric Periods, 3000-700 B.C. An exhibition organized in cooperation with Dr. Herbert A. Cahn, Münzen & Medaillen A.G., Basle, Switzerland," May 7th-June 11th, 1965

Detroit Museum of Arts, Michigan, "Detroit Collects: Antiquities," March 14th-April 29th, 1973

Barbara Bohen (op. cit.) attributes the present pyxis to the Fish Workshop, together with nine other examples. Their common characteristic is the fish-like motif painted on the lid; see, for instance, Providence, Rhode Island School of Design, acc. no. 37.022 (https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection/lidded-box-pyxis-37022).