Mycenaean Vessel w/ Avian Spout, ex-Royal Athena

Greece, Mycenaean Period, Late Bronze Age II, ca. 1450 to 1200 BCE. A truly beautiful and well preserved pottery spouted jar with a flaring, round foot, a deep interior, and a body that widens in diameter as it rises to its unpronounced rim. Twin horizontal loop handles project outward and low on the body. A delicate, avian spout emerges from one side, at a ninety degree angle to the handles, forming a narrow channel for pouring liquids. Concentric orange brown circles ring the interior and exterior of the vessel, with the spout and handles also painted. Size: 4.7" W x 2.1" H (11.9 cm x 5.3 cm)

This period is so named for the palace at Mycenae, famed in Homeric legend as the opulent seat of King Agamemnon - excavations there revealed an elite and long-lasting society with a great deal of wealth. This extended to the workshops of artisans who produced pottery like this jar both for use in Greece and throughout the Mediterranean world; shiploads of similar vessels went out as far as the Levant and Spain, traded far and wide. This is a wonderfully preserved example of this lost past.

Provenance: private Alabama, USA collection; ex-Roy Green collection; ex-Royal-Athena Gallery, New York, USA, acquired in November 2012; ex-private J.M.E collection, New York, USA, acquired from private collection, Ascona, Switzerland in October 1998; ex-private N.L. collection, Antwerp, Belgium, acquired in the 1930s

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#148702
Condition Report: Intact. Two tiny chips from surface of interior near rim. Light deposits on surface with nice remaining pigment.