Adorable Greek Canosan Polychrome Cherub Figures

**Originally Listed At $1200**

Magna Graecia, South Italic Colonies, Apulia, Canosa, early Hellenistic Period, ca. late 4th century BCE. A pair of beautiful mold-formed ceramic cherub figures with delineated arms and legs, chubby torsos, slender necks which support large heads, and wings projecting from their backs. One cherub boasts a trio of nubbin-shaped bulbs on his head and carries a small plate in one hand; the other cherub has a round-brimmed hat and holds a small shield in one hand. Both figures are decorated with pink, red, and blue applied pigment, giving them a wondrous appearance evocative of ancient Canosa! Custom lucite display stands included. Size of largest (round-brimmed hat): 3.5" W x 5.75" H (8.9 cm x 14.6 cm); 6.5" H (16.5 cm) on included custom stand.

Canosa, or Canosion as it was known then, was a major center of the ceramics and pottery trade when it was a Greek polis. It produced truly unique pottery, completely different in decoration style (although not in form) from earlier and neighboring traditions. The clay is buff, with the colorful pink, white, blue, and red decoration applied directly to it without the use of slip.

Provenance: private Healy collection, Studio City, California, USA, acquired over the last twenty years

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.

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#137556
Condition Report: Both figures repaired from multiple pieces with small chips, overpainting, and light adhesive residue along break lines. Smaller figure has one wing missing. Both figures have surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age, small chips to legs, arms, bodies, wings, and heads, with fading to some finer features and pigmentation, and some encrustations. Light earthen deposits as well as nice traces of pigmentation throughout.