932 - Bucchero caryatid cup, Etruscan, 7th century B.C.

Bucchero caryatid cup, Etruscan, 7th century B.C. A combination of an offering bowl (phiale with omphalos) and a four-columned stand, crafted as a single piece from ceramic elements that were joined together while still leather-hard, before firing. Conical base with four triangular windows in the wall; three grooves along the rim. At the top of the cone is a double-stepped base, upon which rests a profiled column with seven superimposed ridges. This column extends into the omphalos of the bowl above it. On the rim of the base with the three grooves are four “columns” on which the phiale rests. Two identical figures face each other: two women dressed in a chiton and himation (caryatids), each holding one of the long braids that fall forward over the shoulder with their arms bent and brought in front of their chests. The other two “columns” are wide slabs with six metopes depicting four griffins and two other mythical creatures. These columns support a phiale that has a base curved and ribbed on the inside with a central omphalos, which, after a sharp bend with a step, transitions into a steep, funnel-shaped wall. Total height 18.5 cm. Apart from a few areas of abrasion or roughening on the otherwise smooth, matte-glossy surface, the piece is completely intact. CULTURAL HERITAGE! Provenance: Private collection in Upper Austria (estate), acquired by the father in the 1980s on the Austrian and southern German art market. Condition: I–II