CIRCA 550-520 B.C.

Details

A MILESIAN FIKELLURA OINOCHOE FRAGMENT
CIRCA 550-520 B.C.
Preserving a male sphinx with a sickle-shaped wing in profile to the left, his right arm stretched forward, his left arm lowered, his human right leg bent at the knee in the so-called knielauf position, his genitalia indicated, a lotus blossom below
3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm.) high

Provenance

American Private Collection, 1980s.
with Harlan J. Berk Ltd, Chicago, 2000.

Literature

A.J. Paul, Exhibition catalogue, A View into Antiquity: Pottery from the Collection of William Suddaby and David Meier, Tampa, 2001, no. 52.
J.M. Padgett, Exhibition catalogue, The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art, Princeton, 2003, no. 69, pp. 276-277.

Exhibited

Tampa Museum of Art, A View into Antiquity: Pottery from the Collection of William Suddaby and David Meier, 14 October 2001-13 January 2002.
Princeton University Art Museum and elsewhere, The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art, 11 October 2003-18 January 2004.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2004.

Lot Essay

Paul notes (p. 277 in Padgett, op. cit.) that the "subject, a male sphinx, is unusual and possibly unique, at least in this form. Greek sphinxes are normally female, and although a few bearded sphinxes are known, their sex is indicated by the beard, whereas the male genitals of this smooth-shaven monster make its gender explicit. ... The figure's hair is reminiscent of an Egyptian-style wig, lending a particularly foreign air to the figure and associating it with other East Greek sphinxes."

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