Lot 2800
A Splendid Sheep's Head Rhyton. Magna Graecia, Apulia, c. 350-320 BC. The drinking vessel shaped with trumpet-like neck and rim, flattened strap handle, and the bottom naturalistically modeled as a sheep's head. Rhyton potted from a fine grained pinkish-tan ware, and glazed with a tan-orange slip. Minor chipping to the tips of the hanimal's horns, otherwise intact and exceptionally preserved. Length: 7-1/4". A delightful work of art.
Estimated Value $3,250 - 4,250.
Apulian rhyta in the form of aniaml heads -- deer, bulls, rams, sheep, and goats, etc., were produced in both the elaborate red figure manner, or with simpler undecorated slips, such as the above vessel. Some were true rhyta, with a hole in the animal's mouth for the passage of wine. Others, as seen here, lack a pouring hole. For other plain-glazed sheep's head rhyta, cf. H. Hoffmann, Tarentine Rhyta, Mainz 1966, pls. XXI, 1; LV, 4, & 7.
|
| |
| Realized $2,645 |
