Well, this is going to cause a stir...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2522067/Chinas-Terracotta-Army-inspired-ancient-GREEK-art-claims-expert.html

Antiquity of the Week: Villanovan Pottery Vessel

Our selection for antiquity of the week is thus superb, intact Villanovan Impasto Ware Vessel


CULTURE / REGION OF ORIGIN: Villanovan Culture, Italy (Northern Lazio or Southern Etruria))
DATE:  8th – 7th Century BCE
DIMENSIONS: Maximum height with handle 11 cm (4.3 in.); maximum width 13.1 cm (5.1 in.); rim diameter 12.0 cm (4.7 in.)



Link to this Item: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i41.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i41.html

DESCRIPTION: A Villanovan brown Impasto Ware dipper. The vessel rests on a flat bottom, expands to its greatest width about half way up the bowl, narrows slightly, then continues vertically up to the lip. At three roughly equidistant points around the outside of the body, there are nipple-like projections. The handle is flat in section and divided into two loops. The entire surface is highly burnished, inside and out. There are three very small chips to the rim but the vessel is otherwise intact. A very nice example of the type.

PROVENANCE: Formerly in the collection of Lord Dayton of Corran, the collection formed between 1960 and 2000.

PUBLISHED: Ex Bonhams, ANTIQUITIES, 27 April 2006, London, Page 160, illustrated in color on Page 159.
COMPARISONS: Sestieri and De Santis, The Protohistory of the Latin Peoples, Electa, Rome, 2000, pages 36, 62 and 84 for examples of Villanovan Impasto Ware jugs or dippers of very similar form, with divided handles and projections on the body. 

SPECIAL NOTES:  The Etruscan civilization of Italy has its immediate roots in the Villanovan culture of west central Italy; an area open to influences from Greek and Carthaginian colonists and traders and northern European Celtic cultures. The Villanovan culture, centered in a broad area around the modern city of Bologna, rapidly developed from simple agricultural village life to a more socially stratified and technologically sophisticated society. The Etruscan cities of the following centuries grew directly out of Villanovan town foundations.This large, beautiful, highly polished pottery vessel offers a glimpse forward to the sophisticated Etruscan Impasto and Bucchero wares of the 7th and 6th Centuries BCE.

Antiquity of the Week

Last week we began a new weekly series, “Antiquity of the Week” to focus on selected examples of ancient art currently on our website at http://www.clioancientart.com/index.html.

This week we offer a large mold-made Roman red slip ware flask from North Africa, dating to the 3rd Century AD. Here are the details –

Web link: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i204.html

Roman Red Slip Ware Flask
CULTURE / REGION OF ORIGIN: Roman North Africa (modern Tunisia)
DATE: Circa 3rd Century CE
DIMENSIONS: 16 cm (5.25 in.) tall.

DESCRIPTION: A Roman North African red slip pottery flask with applied decoration. The fabric is very fine and the vessel thin walled and light. The piriform vessel is decorated with appliques, including nude male figures with drapery, possibly depicting Herakles, on either side, with a lion or panther running beneath. Other appliques include three tall palm branches, one to either side of the handle and one between the male figures, and above each male figure a victor’s crown bearing a pair of laurel sprays and central rosette. The handle is mould made and bears a detailed palm branch in relief along its entire height. A simple double moulding below the mouth defines the decorated area of the vessel’s body, and the mouth itself is flattened, projecting outward. The vessel rests on a small splayed foot. Reassembled from fragments but complete with no fill. An impressive example.

 

PROVENANCE: Ex Dr. Harley Baxter (1947-2009) Collection, Melbourne, Australia.

 

COMPARISONS: For a very closely related example, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession number 74.51.383, part of the Cesnola Collection, reassembled from fragments: http://metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/74.51.383
Also, John W. Hayes, Roman Pottery in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1976, Number 96 (Plate 12). Also, Christies antiquities sale of 8 June, 2004 (Sale 1384, Lot 166) for another similar example, also reassembled from fragments, that brought $1,434.00.

 

As the demand for high quality Roman red slip pottery, frequently referred to as Samian Ware, outpaced the supply in the 1st Century AD, local imitation and variations sprang up at workshops all around the Mediterranean, especially in North Africa and Asia Minor. The North African examples, made in the Roman province that now corresponds to Tunisia, had the most longevity, with fine quality pottery and oil lamps continuing in production well into the 6th Century.

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i204.html

 

Below is a 2nd Century AD example of locally produced red ware from western Asia Minor, gifted by our Trust for Ancient Art and now in the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California.

 

 

 

Fine quality red ware ceramic oil lamps are perhaps the best known output from the North African pottery workshops of the later Roman period. Many examples of 4th Century AD onwards display Christian symbolism. Here is an earlier example of the 2nd Century with an unusual motif of a dwarf or pygmy holding an amphora

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i128.html

Megarian Ware: Transition and Continuity from the Hellenistic to Roman Worlds

Two closely related pottery bowls on our website typify a type of pottery marking the all important transition from the later Hellenistic period to the time of Roman dominance, even before the formal establishment of Rome’s empire, of the broader Mediterranean world. Both bowls are examples of what is generally termed Megarian Ware, a type of pottery produced mainly in Greece and Asia Minor but also with imitative production centers in Italy. Megarian Ware, the name of which comes from 19th Century finds of this pottery near Megara in Greece, offers important insights into the transition from the ubiquitous red figure “painted” pottery of the classical era to the red slip pottery that would come to dominate the Mediterranean world for centuries to come.

LINK: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i202.html

LINK: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i203.html

Both are thin walled bowls and made from fine hard pink clay. One is covered in a deep orange-red slip, the other in a chocolate brown slip. But the most important distinguishing characteristic of both, and of most Megarian Ware, is that they are mold-made, resulting in an all-over pattern of rosettes, laurel leaves and repeating geometric shapes in high relief.

Megarian Wares were distributed over a very wide swath of the Mediterranean and beyond. An example in the British Museum was probably made in Cyprus but was found at Salamanca in Spain: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=392743&partId=1&searchText=Megarian+Ware+Bowl&images=true&page=1

The different color slips used on these bowls is an important factor in understanding the role of pottery in the Hellenistic to Roman Imperial transition. Establishment of a relatively uniform Hellenistic material culture across a great geographic expanse, from South Italy and Sicily in the west to Syria and Mesopotamia in the east, led to the decline of the classical red figure pottery tradition. Potters turned to the mass production technique of stamping out vessels in molds. Some of these featured complex mythological scenes, such as this example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York: http://metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/254263. Dark brown and black slips on Megarian vessels offered a smooth transition from the attractive black slip wares of the later Classical era. A great deal of black to dark brown slip Megarian Ware pottery has been found in Republic level excavations in Rome and its colonies. The orange-red slip examples eventually came to dominate the market and provided the immediate inspiration, at least in color and fabric, for the fine, hard Roman red wares developed in Gaul and Northern Italy in the late Republic. These would “spin off” countless imitations at workshops all over the Mediterranean world, finally concluding with the red ware of Roman North Africa in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Centuries.

Here is an example formerly with our Trust for Ancient Art, gifted in 2010 to the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA, produced in Asia Minor in the 2nd half of the 1st Century AD:

And here is a 3rd Century example currently on our website of later North African red ware:

                                       LINK:http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i204.html

Just Added to our Website - Superb Greek South Italian Red Figure Lekanis

Here's the link: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i430.html

The Ubiquitous Unguentarium

No other type of ancient Roman glass vessel is so widespread and common a find as the unguentarium (plural: unguentaria). As the name suggests, it was intended as a container for precious liquids, such as scented oils for personal or funerary use, medicinal creams and herbals for culinary use.

This type of vessel’s origins rest in the Hellenistic period and earlier, when roughly spindle shaped containers in ceramic were quite common. With the introduction of glass blowing on a large scale in the first century, AD, glass unguentaria rapidly replaced ceramic containers. Unlike pottery, glass has the advantage of imparting no taste or scent to its contents.

While the basic form — a bulbous lower body, long narrow neck, usually with a constriction somewhere along its length, and a flared rim — is common to all unguentaria, the range of specific forms is tremendous. The example illustrated above (Link: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i62.html) is a quite uncommon miniature example. More typical perhaps is this example: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i60.html

One particularly striking variation on the basic theme is the so-called candlestick unguentarium. Here are 2 variations on that theme: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i117.html and http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i81.html

Visitors to museums, when viewing displays of Roman glass, often ask where the lids or stoppers to these vessels are. In most cases, these were made from organic materials, including tightly wound plant fiber or wood. Examples excavated at Romano-Egyptian sites have been found with these organic materials intact, due to the extremely dry conditions.

There are many excellent sources we could recommend dealing with the ubiquitous unguentarium but here are two, in particular –
* Roman Glass in the Corning Museum of Glass, Volume One, David Whitehouse, Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, 2007. This tremendous work includes 87 fully illustrated and described examples of unguentaria (author uses the term “Toilet Bottles).
* Roman Glass, Reflections of Everyday Life, Stuart J. Fleming, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 1997. This is a particularly good source for building an understanding of how these humble glass vessels were actually used in the lives of the ancient Romans.

Here are links to additional examples of ancient Roma glass unguentaria on our website –
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i397.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i59.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i415.html

For all types of ancient glass on our website, follow these links –
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c13_p1.html
and
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c24_p1.html

Byzantine Pottery Oil Lamps from the Levant

Many of the ancient lamps on our website are Byzantine, mainly from the Levant (what is now southern Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel / Palestine). Unlike Roman hard fired ceramic red slip lamps of earlier centuries, Byzantine lamps tend to be made from low fired pottery and their designs reflect Christian symbolism.

In the Roman period, hard fired red slip lamps, of the types widely known from Italy and the European provinces and from North Africa — here is an example: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i30.html — were never widespread in the Levantine region. Instead, a wide range of low fired pottery lamps were made for differing communities, including Samaritans, Hellenized city dwellers, strictly observant Jews, and Roman immigrants involved in trade or the local administration.

One clearly distinguishing characteristic of Byzantine Levantine lamps is their difference in shape compared to earlier Roman types. The large circular discus that served as a platform for decorative images on most Roman examples disappears during the Byzantine period, with the result that most decoration, either abstract patterns or specific Christian symbols, tend to be concentrated along the shoulders of lamps or just beneath the wick hole on the nozzle. Here is an example – http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i340.html

Most are remarkably simple and utilitarian: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i360.html

Others are elaborately decorated with clear iconography: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i404.html

When the Levantine provinces of the Byzantine Empire fell to the Islamic armies in the mid-7th Century, there was no immediate change in styles. But change did slowly come. Some transitional types still include elaborate floral or abstract decoration – http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i379.html
Others show a clear shift away from Byzantine style towards purely geometric decoration – http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i303.html

For other examples of Byzantine lamps, all with clear provenance and detailed reference information, follow these links -
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i306.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i310.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i265.html

To visit our Ancient Oil Lamps page, go to: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c14_p1.html

A Byzantine St Menas Flask and Spiritual Continuity in Egypt

Political and social turmoil is still very much in evidence in Egypt today, 16 months after Mubarak’s departure and 1 year after Morsi’s election as Egypt’s President. Some of this unrest has had religious overtones, involving friction between Egypt’s ancient Coptic community, now numbering perhaps 10% of the population or 8 million persons, and some elements of the Muslim majority.

In light of the rapid pace of social and political change seen in Egypt over the past couple of years, it may be easy to forget that the Coptic community has a remarkably long history, dating to St Mark’s introduction of the new faith in the 1st Century CE, and flourishing with the founding of monasticism in the 4th Century CE Egyptian desert by St Anthony, whose monastery still stands today. There is more than ample artifactual evidence for this continuity, including a “St Menas Flask” on our website (see the image above and the link here: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i386.html).

 The namesake of this mold-made pottery flask, dating to the 6th or 7th Century CE, is considered by Coptic Christians to be a miracle worker and martyr. Menas lived in the late 3rd to early 4th Century when Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire. He presumably was tortured and killed for his faith at a time shortly before Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Toleration, which ended persecution of Christians. He was buried at a spot in the Western Desert southwest of Alexandria. In the late 5th Century CE, the daughter of Emperor Zeno was said to have been cured of leprousy at Menas’ shrine, and great numbers of people began traveling to the spot seeking cures or Menas’ intercession.

The flask on our website is characteristic of a large body of related pottery vessels found not only in the Mediterranean Near East but as far away as Italy, France, Germany and even England. These were either carried back home by pilgrims returning from St Menas’ shrine or sending these objects back to their families. They were typically filled with holy oil or water from the shrine.

Even after the arrival of Islam in Egypt in 641 CE, when the shrine and cathedral was destroyed, and the region’s gradual conversion to a Muslim majority during the middle ages, the shrine continued as a place of pilgrimage. It has been completely rebuilt in the modern era is still a popular destination. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is on their “danger” list.

The iconography on our flask requires some explanation. Both sides show essentially the same scene, one side shown above, the other side shown here:

The figure of St Means is shown facing forward, wearing a soldier’s tunic and with arms extended in blessing. A simplified cross appears above each arm. To either side is a schematic rendering of a kneeling camel, taken from the legend that when his body was being transported into the desert at a particular spot the camels refused to go any further and this wast taken as a sign that his shrine should be erected on that spot. This imagery is enclosed by a circular border and again by another border of beads or dots.

For additional reading, we recommend:the UNESCO page for Abu Mena, including an excellent slideshow – http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/90

Here is an image we took at the Petrie Museum of Egyptology, University College, London, of several similar examples -

For more examples of Coptic antiquities from Egypt on our website -
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i284.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i285.html
* http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i176.html

Ancient Ceramic Oil Lamps at Clio Ancient Art

Ancient pottery oil lamps, and especially ancient Roman lamps, offer antiquities collectors the opportunity to specialize in a very specific area of collecting.
 
The range of different types, ranging from black glazed Hellenistic-inspired types in time of the Republic through the North African and Syro-Palestinian types with Christian-inspired decoration during Byzantine transition, span a period of some 500 years.
 
The range of ceramic fabrics, decorative schemes, shape variations and maker’s marks seem virtually limitless, and local lamp production took place in every region of the Roman Empire.
 
Some ancient oil lamp collectors specialize in the so-called “Factory Lamps” from Gaul and Italy in the 1st Century CE, others in the profusion of low-fired unglazed pottery lamps from the greater Levantine region, including, Samarian, Jewish, Roman-imitative, early Christian types, as well as Byzantine and early Islamic examples. Still other collectors focus on the long history of decorated red slip ceramic lamps of the North African provinces, especially Tunisia.
 
Oil lamps are of great value to archaeology, as well. With their well documented maker’s marks (and copies of these, much like cheap knock-offs or counterfeits of major brands today) and styles, lamps recovered in context offer valuable dating evidence. They also provide many clues to the movement of goods and people over time.
 
Prior to the introduction of modern laws governing the export of antiquities from most Mediterranean countries, that is, prior to the 1960s and ’70s, great numbers of ancient Roman lamps were collected. While a great many have since been donated to public art museums (this author has donated several examples to museum collections), there is still great availability. Fine quality examples, often with meaningful decoration on their discoi (the term for the central round space on a lamp's upper surface), are still undervalued in relation to other areas of the art market.
 
Clio Ancient Art offers many examples for sale at reasonable prices, including examples of all the types mentioned above.
 
Here is a link to our “Ancient Oil Lamps” page: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c14_p1.html

 A few examples are shown below, with links to those pages.

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i128.html

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i63.html

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i400.html 

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i404.html

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i68.html

Ancient Cypriot Ceramics: A Brief Review

The Island of Cyprus, still divided after 4 decades between the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot state — a member of the EU– and the Turkish Cypriot state, and very much in the news lately because of its economic woes, has a profoundly long and complex history. Once the crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean, it has seen immigrants and invaders come and go for many thousands of years. Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Turks, British colonials and others have all left their mark on its landscape and culture.

One very tangible component of the Island’s surviving ancient material culture is pottery. Almost indestructible and abundant, ceramics have been key to aiding more modern excavators in reconstructing the Island’s complex ancient history. Prior to the signing of modern international conventions restricting the export of Cypriot antiquities, a great deal of Cypriot material was removed from the Island by amateurs, explorers, museums, financially motivated looters and by archaeologists. Much of this material is available on the legitimate antiquities art market today.

Our website offers a good selection of material, from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic era. Our selection is by no means comprehensive, as the range of ancient Cypriot pottery types, fabrics, designs, etc. is enormous and just as complex as the Island’s history. Below please find a few images with links to those items on our website.

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i383.html 

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i6.html 

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i94.html 

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i4.html

 http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i5.html

 

Antiquities in The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA

This link will take you to a photo album on our Facebook page:

 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151534776333594.550212.247378388593&type=1&l=3f7012b51e

Most recent installation of the antiquities collection, including many pieces donated by Clio Ancient Art & Antiquities' "Chris M. Maupin Irrevocable Trust for Ancient Art". This is the 3rd re-installation of the relatively new collection and includes many pieces that Clio Ancient Art and the Trust worked with the Museum on acquiring from other private collectors. Of course, only a fraction of the collection, now numbering over 200 objects, is on display at any one time; perhaps 45 objects. Of the 40 or so pieces gifted by the Trust, about 15 are currently on display. 

Our "Links" Page: Another Useful Resource

The "Links" Page on our website -- http://www.clioancientart.com/id15.html -- offers a wealth of resources relating to antiquities, ancient art and ancient cultures. There are links to general online resources about antiquities collecting, links to academic and museum collections online, links to antiquities trade associations and to both print and online publications, and much more. Here's that link again --

http://www.clioancientart.com/id15.html

Enjoy!

Additions to our Website

Earlier this week we uploaded a few really fine antiquities to our website. One has already sold. These all have great provenance. Here are images and links to these objects –

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i401.html 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c14_p1.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i399.html

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i398.html