Ancient Greek Ceramic Corinthian Aryballos. 14.5 cm H. Very big. - 14.5 cm

ARYBALLOS

Etruscan - Corinthian · 6th century B. C.

Pottery

Height 14,5 cm

Provenance
- Private collection, J. S. , Barcelona, Spain. Focused on the study and collecting of Greek ceramics. 1960 - 2023.

Condition
Good condition, has lost part of the polychromy.

An Etruscan-Corinthian etruscan-corinthian aribal, made of light-coloured ceramic and decorated using the black-figure technique. It is characterised by the globular body characteristic of this type, raised on a disc-shaped base. The neck is narrow and short, and the mouth is wide and flat. It also has a flat vertical handle, joining the shoulders to the mouth, which would allow the vessel to be hung from a string. The main decoration is organised in a wide band that occupies most of the surface of the vessel, delimited by concentric lines at the top and bottom. On the shoulders, thus differentiating the structure of the piece, is a crown of gadroons. The mouth also retains the remains of a simple circular line.

As is usual in the Corinthian style, the main motif is a frieze of animals against a background of sgraffito petal rosettes. On the front of the aribalus is a mermaid with her wings outstretched, a characteristic motif of the Orientalising Corinthian style. The body is depicted in profile to the left, although the wings open out to either side, composing a symmetrical pattern. The mermaid is flanked by two birds, both in profile towards her, reinforcing the closed, symmetrical character of the composition. The mermaid is a hybrid being with the body of a bird and the head of a woman, differentiated here by the large eye, the profile with a prominent nose, long hair and a crown or diadem on her head. In Etruscan ceramics, these types of hybrid beings had a clear funerary character, as they were considered creatures halfway between the world of the living and the world of the dead.

The aryballos or aryballos is a small vessel with a globular body, a short, narrow neck and a mouth with a wide, flat lip. Its shape would have been related to its function: that of containing perfumed oils or ointments, since the small outlet allowed the slow, leisurely pouring of the perfumes, which were of great economic value, to be regulated. The discoidal shape of the mouth was particularly suitable for spreading the perfumed oil on the skin. According to Galen, a famous physician in Ancient Greece, it was preferable to begin warming the athletes by lightly rubbing them with linen cloths before applying the perfumed oil, so that it would penetrate the skin better.

The typology would have originated in Corinth, following the models of the prized opaque glass ointments, and centuries later would be copied by Attic workshops. Globular or zoomorphic aryballi were exported throughout the Mediterranean basin, and the trade in small vessels was absolutely dominant, with the exception of a few variations from eastern Greece. As can be seen on Greek pottery and relic stelae, the aríbalos were generally attached by a rope or ribbon to the athlete's body or hung on the walls of the gymnasium together with the strigil and the sponge, which were common items of hygiene for athletes.

Situated on the isthmus of the same name, the narrow strip of land linking Attica to the Peloponnese, the city of Corinth was already important in Mycenaean times, and by 730 BC it emerged as a major Greek city thanks to maritime trade and the development of an important pottery industry between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. Corinthian pottery was characterised by its technical and artistic quality and the fineness of its light-coloured clay, and was exported throughout the Mediterranean with singular success. In fact, vases in this style were also painted outside Corinth, with the so-called Etruscan-Corinthian vases, of Italian manufacture and very common in Etruscan tombs, standing out for their quantity and importance. The term Etruscan-Corinthian is applied to a group of vases made in Etruscan workshops between 630 and 550 BC, following the models of Corinthian pottery. Although the Corinthian influence can also be seen in other Etruscan pottery, Etruscan-Corinthian vases are characterised by their direct link to Greek models.

Corinthian-style ware is richly ornamented, with a language of orientalising tendencies, based on the repetition and evolution of fixed motifs, which makes it particularly uniform. The most identifiable style of Corinthian pottery is that which uses friezes of animals painted in red and black glazes on the light-coloured clay background, with sgraffito details. However, Corinth was also the birthplace of black-figure pottery, a style that was later exported to Attica.

The technique of black figures is based on the use of a transparent varnish which, when fired, acquired an intense, glossy black hue. The motifs were therefore invisible before firing, which meant that the painters had to work entirely from memory, unable to see their previous work. Once the piece was fired, the unglazed areas remained in the natural colour of the clay, while the glazed, 'painted' areas took on a dense, glossy black colour. The black-figure technique was introduced in Corinth around 700 BC and was adopted by Attic artists in the Orientalising period (725-625 BC) . This was the beginning of the great series of black-figure pottery, which had its main centre in Athens and continued until the beginning of the 5th century BC.

Bibliography
- AMYX, D. A. Corinthian Vase-Painting of the Archaic Period. University of California Press. 1988.
- BOARDMAN, J. The History of Greek Vases: Potters, Painters, Pictures. Thames & Hudson. 2001.
- Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. Paris: Union Académique Internationale, www. cvaonline. org
- KOUROU, N. “Corinthian Wares and the West”, en HACKENS, T. Ancient and Traditional Ceramics. Seminar held at the European University Centre for Cultural Heritage. Pact Belgium. 1990, pp. 27-53.
- SZILÁGYI, J. G. Ceramica Etrusco-Corinzia Figurata. Parte II: 590/580-550 a. C. Leo S. Olschki. 1992.
- VON BOTHMER, D. Greek Vase Painting. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1987.

Notes:

- The piece includes authenticity certificate.
- The piece includes Spanish Export License (Passport for European Union) . NOT TAXES.
- According to Spanish legislation, items sent outside the European Union are subject to export taxes and will be added to the invoice, at the buyer's expense. These export fees are fixed on the final auction price and the tax rate is not applied directly on the total value of the item to be exported, but rather the different percentages by sections are applied to it:
- Up to 6,000 euros: 5%.
- From 6. 001 to 60. 000 euros: 10%.
This export permit application process can take between 1-2 months maximum.
- The seller guarantees that he acquired this piece according to all national and international laws related to the ownership of cultural property. Provenance statement seen by Catawiki.