Cypriot Miniature Globular Black-on-Red Ware Juglet
£ 695.00
A Cypriot, miniature globular juglet, of typical black-on-red form. It features a bulbous body, that leads to a flaring, trumpet mouth. There is a pronounced ridge at the junction of body and neck. An applied handle has been added from the ridged neck to the start of the body. The jug stands on a flattened base. The whole of the vessel is made of a buff clay with a vibrant red-brown slip and covered in geometric decoration in black pigment. The neck and body are decorated with linear bands, whilst three groups of five concentric circles also enrich the top of the body. Such ornamentation was typical of the ware’s style.
Date: Circa 800 - 600 BC Provenance: From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. Condition: Excellent. Some minute chipping consistent with age. Some chipping to the rim. Some encrustation to one side of the vessel.
Black-on-red Cypriot pottery can be dated to the Iron Age, circa 1000 BC. It reached it’s peak popularity during the Cypro-Geometric period to the Cypro-Archaic period, from 1000 BC to 600 BC. It is comprised of mostly small, miniature vessels made of thin-walled red-brown clay, covered in a similar coloured slip. Additional geometric patterns were then applied in black pigment. There is some debate as to the origins of the black-on-red ware, with some siting a Phoenician influence. Regardless of the origin, the wares became immensely popular in Cyprus and were produced on the island by local craftsman. They were then exported off Cyprus and have been excavated across the Mediterranean and the Levant.
The most common decorative theme were linear bands or concentric circles. Towards the end of the Cyprio-Archaic period, circular decoration faded from use and potters began to favour the Bichrome red ware style, which included the addition of white pigment.
