ATTIC, LATE GEOMETRIC PERIOD, CIRCA 730-700 B.C.

Details

A GREEK POTTERY POMEGRANATE VASE
Attic, Late Geometric Period, Circa 730-700 B.C.
The hollow vessel ovoid in form, crowned at the base with a prominent crenellated calyx open through to the interior, the short stem with a flat top, its sides perforated and open to the interior, ornamented with bands of geometric ornament including dots, zig-zag, dotted lozenge chain and a central broad band of sigmas, all framed by sets of narrow lines
5 1/8 in. (13 cm) high

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This lot is being sold not subject to a reserve.

Lot Essay

For a related pomegranate vase in the Bowdoin College Museum see no. 22 in Langdon, From Pasture to Polis, Art in the Age of Homer. According to Langdon (op cit., p. 93-94) the pomegranate was already an ancient fertility symbol by Geometric times. "Its blood-red juice a memento mori, its seeds symbolizing the promise of renewal." Like the Bowdoin vase, the present example, "with its tiny hole at the top, served neither as a rattle nor, probably, as an oil container. Its ultimate function was to accompany the deceased into the earth, offering symbolically both food and rebirth."

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