EARLY CYCLADIC I-II, CIRCA 2800-2700 B.C.

Details

A CYCLADIC MARBLE KANDILA
EARLY CYCLADIC I-II, CIRCA 2800-2700 B.C.
Deeply hollowed, spherical in form, with a splayed pedestal foot, the short cylindrical collar emerging from the slightly dipped shoulders, with four perforated vertical lugs evenly spaced just above the middle of the body, retaining traces of the original surface polish
5 5/16 in. (13.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Christos G. Bastis, New York, prior to 1987.
The Christos G. Bastis Collection; Sotheby's, New York, 9 December 1999, lot 39.

Literature

D. von Bothmer, et al., Antiquities from the Collection of Christos G. Bastis, New York, 1987, no. 47.
P. Getz-Preziosi, Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections, Richmond, 1987, no. 105.
P. Getz-Gentle, Stone Vessels of the Cyclades in the Early Bronze Age, University Park, Pennsylvania, 1996, pp. 26 and 338, pl. 8a.

Exhibited

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Antiquities from the Collection of Christos G. Bastis, 20 November 1987 - 10 January 1988.
Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum and San Francisco, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections, 5 March 1988 - 25 September 1988.

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Lot Essay

The moniker kandila was given to Cycladic pedestaled jars because of their coincidental likeness to Greek church lamps. These vessels were plentiful products of Early Cycladic I craftsmen. Most such jars conform to a style with ellipsoidal bodies fashioned with four evenly spaced lugs, a collar and a pedestal foot. According to P. Getz-Preziosi (p. 280 in Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections), the shape of this particular kandila is atypical with its spherical body, small lugs, short cylindrical collar and short flaring foot, and can therefore be categorized as a transitional piece. As D. von Bothmer notes (p. 114 in Antiquities from the Collection of Christos G. Bastis), the shape is "reminiscent of a pomegranate." In Stone Vessels of the Cyclades in the early Bronze Age, Getz-Gentle compares this vessel to one from the Fleischman collection (pl. 8b, op. cit.) which she suggests may be by the same hand.

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