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This ancient pottery lekanis is from Apulia in Magna Graecia, the Roman name for the South Italy coastal area colonized by the Greeks in the 6th century B.C.E. Greek settlers arrived with their Hellenic culture intact and had much influence on Italian civilization. A lekanis was a highly decorated low shallow bowl with close-fitting top…
This elegant terracotta piriform (pear shaped) flask contained healing salves, oils, ointments, and other precious items. The three applied raised designs are a lion symbolizes strength and power; palm leaves victory; and the rosette Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of love, beauty, war and justice. The vessel was recovered in eight fairly large pieces, large areas were recovered intact and the fragments restored.
Made in Africa Proconsularis in Roman North Africa and shipped throughout the Roman Empire, this small pouring vessel was made of inexpensive and long-lasting materials and was called coarse wear for everyday use. This earthenware jug is elegant in its simplicity – tapered and undecorated except for horizontal ridges, curved single handle, simple rim at the mouth and crème clay slip. It was made using a potters wheel, seen by the circle marks on the bottom and the uniform ribbing. A fine small piece of history.
This simple ancient small earthenware bowl was made in Africa Proconsularis, the Roman North Africa pottery center and distributed throughout the Roman Empire. With no handle, this beaker is beautiful in its simplicity resting on a short foot, a body that curves up and rises to meet a neck and is topped with an everted rim to lessen spillage Made for daily use, this Roman coarse wear has a wide mouth for easy drinking and a rim with light terracotta red and its crème slip with an exquisite shape.
Made in the Roman North Africa, this ancient carinated ceramic flagon called coarse wear for daily use made of inexpensive durable clay was used to hydrate all kinds of people and on home altars for offerings to family deities. Carinated pottery, where the top and lower sections are angled in opposite directions forming a pointed edge, was common ancient pottery shape, this one with a handle.
A fine ancient Roman platter produced for upper classes, this is refined and delicate and has stamped decorative images in complex circles. Although rough areas with small losses remain, it is an ancient piece otherwise in very good condition that, especially considering its age and use, remains a remarkable surviving piece of history.
Dating from the 4th century B.C.E., this miniature pottery vessel was wheel-thrown in the Greek colonies, Apulia, Magna Graecia in Southeastern Italy. Called Xenon ware, it’s elegant shape has a curved body, small neck with flared rim and handle and is decorated with painted orange geometric designs. Its diminutive shape indicates it may have been made for use by children or as a votive vessel. Common for pottery of this age there is some fading of the painted decoration and small chips. With no discernible repairs or restorations it is in very good shape for its age and use.
This pair of 12-13th century bronze rings was used to hold poles attached a litter bed or chair held on shoulders of carriers, usually to transport people of royal or elite status in Khmer Empire society. The narrow upper body, which is decorated with a lotus motif, was used to hold a bronze hook and the lower body to accommodate the pole. Although possibly made in Cambodia the Khmer Empire’s center, it was found in Lopburi, Thailand, the western most Khmer outpost
This fascinating thick Song pottery brick is a low-fired depiction of a dwarf foreigner with a rotund belly, a large head and nose, an open mouth and abnormal features. The Chinese believed dwarfs could ward off evil spirits and sickness, attract peace and blessings (fu) and were very wise. Images of dwarfs became so popular, some were produced in numbers.
As part of the The Song dynasty cultural expansion, government and public buildings and tombs were built with interior walls decorated with earthenware unglazed mold-made brick tiles. This fanciful vibrant tile with a scalloped frame portrays two people playing a board game called wéiqí which originated in China over 2500 years ago. It is the world’s oldest and most complex board game still played.
Chinese belt hooks were worn with the hook end on the wearer’s left and fastened to clothing with a button like bronze piece fixed to the belt’s end. Initially only functional, metalwork belt hooks became a symbol of wealth, high status and power by the Han Dynasty. They were made using a variety of materials…
Cocoon jars were mingqi made for placement in tombs to comfort the deceased on their journey to and in their afterlife. An elixir of Immortality made from mulberry leaves or their ashes was placed inside for the deceased to drink and transmigrate into the world of the beyond. Ovoid in shape to resemble a silkworm cocoon, ajar rests on a small trumpet-shaped foot and has a narrow neck and a wide lip at its mouth. Painted after firing with vertical bands dividing it into panels, swirling cloud scrolls, and circular “eye” motifs at each end, this beautiful vessel is in excellent condition for its age with expected paint losses, scrapes, and dirt adhesions.
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