Provenance: Formerly property of a Swiss Scholar
with N. Koutoulakis (1910-1996) Paris and Geneva, acquired by 1976;
thence by descent.
Property of a European Collector; Antiquities, Christie's, London, 4 December 2019, lot 425 (part).
with Galerie Günter Puhze, Freiburg, acquired from the above (Kunst der Antike, Katalog 34, 2020, no. 2).
Exhibited: Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum, Kunst und Kultur der Kykladeninseln im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr., 25 June-10 October 1976.
Published: J. Thimme, Kunst und Kultur der Kykladeninseln im 3. Jahrtausend v. Chr., Karlsruhe, 1976, pp. 323, 507, no. 318. J. Thimme, Art and Culture of Cyclades, Chicago, 1977, pp. 323, 512, no. 318. P. Getz-Gentle, Stone Vessels of the Cyclades in the Early Bronze Age, University Park, 1996, pp. 109-110, fig. 56a; p. 273, no. F8; pl. 58a.
This small vessel from the Greek Cycladic World was made for ritual use of precious paints and oils. Meant to be held with one hand and sculpted with a spout this marble bowl is sensitively carved and wonderfully preserved. It retains burial root marks and traces of ancient pigments. A truly magical object dating from 2700 BC.
