Description:
This is a large and elegant bronze ladle, which is beautifully decorated. The hemispherical bowl has a series of chased concentric circles on the base, as well as spreading volutes on the rim. The elongated handle rises vertically from the bowl rim to a high loop which terminates in the head of a donkey.
It has been suggested that the well-known pottery kyathoi were derived from bronze forms, as their high handle is not well adapted for ceramic. The type of bronze ladle with animal head handle was popular in Greece and Etruria, as well as in the Roman world. Examples that have deeper and more shallow bowls are also found, along with similar ladles with the handle ending in two animal heads. Such ladles were often part of a drinking set, together with a bowl, a strainer and a situla (cf. Wieland, 2013, p. 125 and note 403).
Although not accepted any more by many scholars, it is worth mentioning an interesting theory proposed more than two centuries ago by Pierre-François Hugues, baron d'Hancarville (1719-1805), who stated that the terminal decoration of the handle was chosen to signify the deity in whose service the implement was used: a swan indicating Leda, a horse signifying Neptune /Poseidon and the head of a donkey referring to Bacchus or Silenus (Pierre-François Hugues, baron d'Hancarville, MS Catalogue des antiquités recueillies, depuis l'an 1764 jusque vers le milieu de l'année 1776 par Mr. Le Chevalier Guillaume Hamilton, acquises par Acte du Parlement en 1772 et maintenant déposées dans le Muséum Britannique (London, 1778), Volume 1, p. 281-282; Volume 2, p. 598).
The use of ladles like this during a long period makes it difficult to date the object exactly. Moreover, this piece appears to be in a transitional stage; the shape of the bowl is reminiscent of earlier ladles, whereas the shape of the handle, with the donkey head, and the volute decoration on the bowl both point towards a later date. Various experts who have seen the ladle have attributed it to periods almost a thousand years apart, from the 5th century B.C. to late Roman times, 5th-6th century C.E.!
Literature:
Eleni Zimi, "Spoons in the Greek World", in Olga Pelagia (ed.), Greek Offerings. Essays on Greek Art in Honour of John Boardman (Oxford, Oxbow, 1997) p. 209-220; Arthur Steinberg, "Techniques of Working Bronze", in David Gordon Mitten and Suzannah F. Doeringer, Master Bronzes from the Classical World (Mainz am Rhein, Philipp von Zabern, 1967), p. 9-15; John W. Hayes, Greek, Roman and Related Metalware in the Royal Ontario Museum. A Catalogue (Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, 1984), 40 ff. ("Bronze Ladles (Kyathoi)"); Anja Wieland, Skythisches Gold in griechischem Stil. Untersuchungen zur nordpontischen Toreutik am Beispiel der Waffen- und Gefäßbeigaben des Solocha-Kurgans (Bonn, 2013), passim.
Dating:
Rather difficult to date exactly (vide supra); dates suggested by experts vary from 5th century B.C. to 5th-6th century C.E.
Size:
Length 28 cm.
Provenance:
Dutch private collection; previously with Christie’s, South Kensington, London, sale 7952 of 8 April 1998, part of lot 326.
Condition:
Intact with a beautiful patina.
SOLD
Stock number:
C0785