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A Greek Paestan Red-Figure Lekanis

Currency:USD Category:Antiquities / Greek Start Price:1,600.00 USD Estimated At:2,500.00 - 3,000.00 USD
A Greek Paestan Red-Figure Lekanis

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Auction Date:2012 Nov 16 @ 10:00 (UTC-06:00 : CST/MDT)
Location:P.O. Box 714, Erie, Colorado, 80516, United States
An elegantly shaped and beautifully decorated small lekanis from Paestum, dating to circa 340-320 BC. The lid shows the red-figure painted head of a so-called lady of fashion, facing left and wearing a saccos. The opposite side shows a bird, which has been described as a swan in the publication but looks more like a dove (other vessels from the region sometimes also depict birds, such as thrushes). The way the animal's eye is depicted on our lekanis gives it a comical look, probably unintended, as if the bird is on its guard, glancing at the onlooker with suspicion. Palmettes are shown between the two scenes, and circular patterns are seen in the fields. The knob of the lid has a palmette and dots decoration as well as an encircling line, and there is a wave motif around the rim of the lid. The bowl has a pedestal and two opposing loop handles at the rim. It has a decoration of lines or rays. The fingers prints of the ancient potter can still be observed in the areas where he attached the handles to the bowl.
Published: Art of the Ancient World, volume 15 (New York, Beverly Hills, London, Royal-Athena Galleries, 2004), no. 106.
Width 14.9 cm including handles, diameter of body 10.4 cm on the outside and 8.7 on the inside, height 9.0 cm. Intact. A few minuscule chips to the rim of the bowl and one to the rim of the lid (all of them a few mm only and none of them distracting at all), a small area of roughness to the rim of the bowl, tiny spots where the glaze was lost, all as visible on the photographs; in excellent condition overall. A wonderful vessel.
Provenance: Dutch private collection; previously with Royal-Athena Galleries, 2004; previously US private collection, New York, acquired in Lugano, Switzerland, in April 1992.
Background information: Paestum is located south of Naples, in the Campania region of southern Italy. It was founded around 600 B.C. by the Greeks of Sybaris, who called the place Poseidonia. The workshops there began the production of vases around 380-370 B.C. under the influence of potters and painters of Sicilian origin. The painter Asteas, whose left his signature on several vases he created, introduced the particularities that characterize this local style. He and his disciple Python are considered the master painters from Paestum.

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