Greek Attic Lekythos with Ivy, Attributed to the Workshop of the Beldam Painter , c. 490-460 B.C.

(Attic Lekythos)

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Item No.
35.37613
Culture
Greek, Attic, c. 490-460 B.C. 
Item Details.
Small lekythos with a slender body tapering downwards, cylindrical neck, everted torus mouth with black-glazed rim and lip, strap handle and spreading disc foot. The shoulder carries a band of fine rays over the reserved clay ground. The body is decorated in the scheme standard to the workshop: a broad central zone in cream slip bearing an ivy tendril with heart-shaped leaves and clusters of dots, framed above and below by bands of net pattern. Groups of black and reserved lines close the composition below, and the lower body and the upper surface of the foot are glazed black, the outer edge of the foot left reserved.

The attribution rests on the shape, and specifically on the characteristic junction of shoulder and wall, which is not marked by a sharp angle but passes into the body in a slightly sinuous profile. This treatment is typical of the Beldam workshop and separates its pattern lekythoi from the more angular contemporary production. Vases of this class were made in quantity in the second quarter of the fifth century B.C. and were classified by C. H. E. Haspels in Attic Black-Figured Lekythoi (Paris 1936). The present piece is a finely executed example, with a crisp and confident hand in the ivy chain.

The published pedigree and the presence in the Beazley Archive add considerably to the distinction of the piece.

Provenance: Fine Antiquities, Christie's, London, 13 July 1983, lot 296 (part). with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York. David F. Hoff Collection, Virginia, USA, acquired in the 1990s. Acquired by the previous owner from the above in May 2023. Beazley archive no. 9053595.

Attribution verified by accredited archaeologist, specialist in Ancient Mediterranean Ceramics and Numismatics.
Size
15.3 cm H - 5 inches
Material
Terracotta 
Condition
Intact 
Categories
Greek
Price.
US$ 2600
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