Ancient Mesopotamian Marble Lidded Pyxis

Ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, Late Uruk to Jemdet Nasr Period, ca. 3100 to 2900 BCE. A splendid pyxis, skillfully hand-carved from marble to display a hemispherical body with a flared shoulder, a rounded top, an annular rim, and a discoid lid with a sizeable knob, all sitting upon a discoid base. Several incised bands decorate the vessel with 1 on the lid, 2 on the shoulder, and 1 on the body. Natural striations of peach and grey dance across the cream-hued walls highlighting its elegant form. Size: 3.55" in diameter x 1.7" H (9 cm x 4.3 cm)

The pyxis form, a rounded vessel with small, fitted lid, is found throughout the ancient Near East and the Classical world, and was probably imported to the ancient Levant from Mycenaean Greece. These have been found in burial chambers beneath Tels, the settlement mounds common to this region, often alongside many other vessels - bowls, oil lamps, juglets, and flasks - some made nearby, others imported from Greece and the Greek South Italic colonies. These items remind us of the interconnected trade world of the ancient Mediterranean, and the rich cultural milieu of the past.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private prominent D.K. collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 2000s

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#164564
Condition Report: Collection labels on base. Repaired from several pieces with restoration over break lines. Nicks to periphery of shoulder, lid, and foot. Some abrasions and softening of incised detail, commensurate with age. Otherwise, excellent.