Description:
A very large globular vessel, standing on a flat base. The object has a flaring, cylindrical neck, the lower part of which is ridged. An applied, thick loop handle runs from the body of the vessel to the middle part of the neck, and has an applied lug finial. The body is decorated with three applied nipple lugs.
On the body three decorations in low relief are visible, which are ridged and are connected to the base of the handle. These decorations appear to imitate the tentacles of an octopus, and when viewed from the front, the handle itself appears to be the body of the animal.
It is difficult to link this pottery vessel to a particular culture. Is has been suggested that it might come from Turkey, because it is burnished with a greyish colour, reminiscent of the clay used in the Yortan culture in northwestern Anatolia; however, this culture flourished around 2700-2400 B.C. much earlier than the period in which the vessel was last heated (around 3280 years ago, according to a thermoluminescence test). Research conducted by the previous owner suggested that it may have come from Tepe Sialk, an archaeological site in a suburb southwest of moden Kashan in central Iran, a site that has undergone six major phases of occupation. The oldest settlement identified here dates to the first half of the fifth millennium B.C. The site appears to have been abandoned from circa 2500 B.C., and people started to settle again around 1200 B.C., which was the fifth period. If our vessel comes from this site, it was most likely made during this fifth period of occupation (circa 1200 B.C. - circa 900 B.C.).
As said, the ancient authenticity of the vessel was confirmed by a TL test. The original report of this test comes with the object.
Dating:
Late second millennium - early first millennium B.C.
Size:
Height circa 34 cm.
Provenance:
Collection of Dr. Stanley F. Yolles, Stony Brook, N.Y.; thence with Arte Primitivo, New York, on 15 March 2004, lot 506; thence Dutch private collection.
Dr. Stanley F. Yolles (April 19, 1919 - January 12, 2001) was director of the US National Institute of Mental Health from 1964 to 1970; he created the department of psychiatry at the State University of New York School of Medicine at Stony Brook in 1971; he was the department chairman until 1981, and became professor emeritus in 1982. He was also the director of the Long Island Research Institute, which conducted mental health studies, from 1974 to 1981.
Condition:
Some encrustation and root marks on the body; the handle has been reattached; small drill holes made when samples for the TL test were taken; else intact and in an excellent condition.
Price:
€ 3,600
Stock number:
A2522