Etruscan Terracotta Bucchero Chalice with Caryatids, c. 7th-6th Century B.C.

(Etruscan Bucchero)

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Item No.
32.36829
Culture
Etruscan, c. 7th-6th Century B.C. 
Item Details.
Bucchero chalice, four standing caryatid figures to the circumference, supporting the bowl on their heads and holding it with their arms and hand, each with long deeply incised wings on either side, executed using a combination of raised and low relief.

Provenance: Private collection of Mr Robert Wilson (1941-), New York, USA, an American experimental theatre stage director and playwright who has been described as one of the world’s foremost avant-garde theatre artists. Fine Arts Sign Company, 5 November 2017, LOT 17. Private Australian collection.
Literature: Cf. The British Museum, museum number 1853,0110.6, for a figure similar to those featured on the chalice; cf. Rasmussen, T., Bucchero Pottery from Southern Etruria, Cambridge, 1979, p.95; pl.28, nos. 128,129.
Footnotes: The typology corresponds to the Rasmussen’s typology of chalice 1a, the so called ‘calici pentapodi’ of Mingazzini, i.e. fitted with four supports and a central stem, Some scholars consider that the winged female caryatid may be linked to the goddess known as the Potnia Theron, or the Mistress of the Animals, derived from the Near Eastern goddess Astarte; in its Etruscan form, the winged goddess may be the prime female deity Uni.

Size
19.7 cm H - 7 3/4 inches
Material
Terracotta 
Condition
Intact 
Categories
Etruscan
Price.
US$ 6000
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