Magna Graecia, South Italy, Campania, ca. 4th century BCE. A stunning blackware lekythos presenting a very wide, rounded belly with incised vertical striations to create ribs, a long slender neck which resolves in a curved rim, an elegant upturned handle joining neck to shoulder, the rim of the shoulder showing an incised border, all upon a tiered round, concave foot. Aside from the buff area bridging the bottom of the body with the upper end of the base, the vessel is glazed in an almost-iridescent black, with additional jet black tongues painted on the lower section of the neck. Campanian wares, one of the five types of known pottery produced in the Greek South Italic colonies, were made by Greek colonists in the cities of Capua and Cumae. While larger lekythos vessels were usually designated for keeping olive oil, smaller more delicate examples like this one were reserved for the bath to store precious unguents of sweet and floral aromas. A lovely ceramic work from an elegant lady's toilette. Size: 3.625" W x 8.25" H (9.2 cm x 21 cm)

Provenance: private Swiss Collection

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#124236

A few scuffs with pigment loss to the surface. Overall excellent.