Greek Corinthian Polychrome Lidded Pyxis

Ancient Greece, Corinth, ca. late 6th to first half of the 5th century BCE. A beautiful example of a wheel-thrown pottery pyxis that perhaps held cosmetics, ointments, or trinkets. The vessel presents with an applied foot, a broad, apple-shaped body with a smooth shoulder, a squat rim with a slightly flared lip surrounding the deep interior cavity, and a discoid lid with a knob handle. The beige-slipped vessel bears wide decorative bands of black and red-brown pigment on the foot and lower body, with a slender band of black stippling enclosed within a pair of horizontal red stripes, and a register of repeating black-and-red tongues radiating around the rim. Rings of black and red paint further accentuate the rim, and the lid top displays several concentric orange-and-red rings. The name pyxis derived from Corinthian covered wooden boxes made from boxwood trees called 'puksos.' Size (w/ lid): 7.2" W x 6.75" H (18.3 cm x 17.1 cm)

For a stylistically similar example of the body, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 41.162.44.

For an example of a stemmed pyxis with nearly identical motifs around the shoulder, please see The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, accession number 34.132.

Provenance: ex-Artemis Gallery; ex-private New Jersey, USA collection; ex-Helios Gallery, U.K., acquired in the 1990s; ex-William Froelich collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 1980s

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#152837
Condition Report: Vessel and lid repaired from multiple large pieces, with small chips and light in-fill material in areas of loss, and resurfacing along new material and break lines. Lid may not be original to vessel body. Lid and body have abrasions and fading to original pigmentation, with areas of touch-up painting to some body decorations, and light encrustations. Great traces of original pigment and decorative motifs throughout.