A GREEK BRONZE HYDRIA

CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA MID-5TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

A GREEK BRONZE HYDRIA
CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA MID-5TH CENTURY B.C.
The ovoid body with broad shoulders and a concave neck, the separately cast flaring base with a band of tongues, the two fluted horizontal handles upturned, each with a circular plate with radiating tongues centered by twisted ribbon, the fluted vertical handle with a similar inverted palmette handle-plate above, terminating below in a figure of a winged siren, her wing tips modelled in the round, standing on an inverted palmette, pierced voluted scrolls either side, the flat mouth of the vessel with beading above ovolo on the overhanging rim
17¾ in. (45 cm.) high

Provenance

with Frères Feuardent, Paris, 1930s.
with Jean Mikas, Paris, 1930s; thence by descent to George Krimitsas, Paris, 1960s.
with B. Brugidou, Paris, 1980s.

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Lot Essay

For a similar example in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, cf. D. G. Mitten and S. F. Doeringer, Master Bronzes from the Classical World, Mainz, 1967, pp. 108-109, no. 108. Where the author notes 'those of this shape are also called kalpides, although it is not certain whether the ancients applied the term kalpis to this specific group. Costly bronze hydriai were perhaps given to brides and were probably used only for special occasions or religious rites'. The siren at the base of the pouring handle is characteristic of a large group of 5th Century hydriae.

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