ENGLISH BLACK BASALT 'ENCAUSTIC-DECORATED' TWO-HANDLED BALUSTER VASE

ENGLISH BLACK BASALT 'ENCAUSTIC-DECORATED' TWO-HANDLED BALUSTER VASE circa 1770-1775, unmarked, attributed to Wedgwood & Bentley, of amphora form, flanked by C-scroll handles headed by female masks, the center enameled in iron-red and sepia with the mother goddess Rhea riding a lion, beneath a crescent moon and star, the neck with a band of anthemion, lower body with key pattern, on a circular foot, h: 9 3/4 in.

Provenance: Lindsay Grigsby Collection, pre-1994.
Oxborrow Collection.
Dreweatts, Donnington Priory, Berkshire, UK, 30 November 2016, lot 99 (lot tag).
Jeffrey Milkins Collection, no. 877.

Catalogue note:
The Pergamon Museum, Berlin, preserves an altar sculpture depicting Rhea riding a lion. For another 'encaustic-decorated' vase of similar form with bracket handles, Christie's, South Kensington, 15 June 1995 (cover).

Literature: See Diana Edwards, 'Black Basalt' p. 14, color pl. 7 (full page illustration, captioned 'unmarked, Wedgwood & Bentley').