AN ATTIC WHITE GROUND ALABASTRON, belonging to the Group of the Negro Alabastra, 490-480 B.C.

Details

AN ATTIC WHITE GROUND ALABASTRON, belonging to the Group of the Negro Alabastra, 490-480 B.C.

Depicting a woman walking to the right and looking back, wearing a chiton and mantle, bracelet and pendant necklace. A black painted lion stands behind her. She holds a wreath in her right hand over a laver, behind which is a date palm. In the field to the upper left of her is a mirror. To the right and left of the figure the letters KALOS appear in three places. Above in the border between the twin vestigial handles are the letters MELANΦIS [KA]LE

Condition: intact; use of second white on the face, hands, feet and mantle

6½in. (16.6cm.) high

Lot Essay

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The name Melanphis Kale (feminine reading), "Black Flower", is unusual as is the alabastron which is close to the works by the Syriskos Painter within the Group of the Negro Alabastra mentioned in Beazley, ARV²., 267-269. For these negro alabastra, cf., H. Winnefeld, Alabastra mit Negerdarstellungen, Athenische Mitteilungen, 14, 1889, 4-50; M. und M., Auktion 40, 13 Dezember 1969, p. 67, fig. 47, nos. 109-110; Mertens, Attic White Ground, 35-40, 95 and 100; J. Thimme, Griechische Salbgefasse mit lybischen Motiven, Jahrbuch Baden-Wurttemburg, 7, 1970, 7 and 30; J. Neils, The Group of Negro Alabastra, Antike Kunst, 23, 1980, 13-23.

The alabastron in the Late Archaic and Early Classical Period was often offered as a love-gift

More from A Private Collection of Important Greek Vases

View All