FEATURES ARCHIVE

Specialist and Head of Antiquities Molly Morse Limmer shares her thoughts on an ever-popular collecting niche.

Greek pottery holds enduring appeal with collectors of all levels who appreciate its well-proportioned shapes and the window they offer into everyday life in ancient Greece and the western Greek colonies.

While today they hold enormous historic and decorative value, from the sixth to fourth centuries B.C. these vessels were essential tools used for storing, transporting, and drinking wine. The kyathos, with its single, tall looped handle, would have been used as a ladle to transfer wine or water into a drinking vessel. The two-handled drinking vessel, called a kantharos, was often associated with Dionysus or Herakles. The rhyton, or drinking horn, was formed by joining the figure of an animal head to the bottom of the cup.

The decorative elements of Greek pottery emphasized human figures and narrative scenes, with many taking as their subject the great mythological heroes. The kyathos at above left depicts the hero Herakles battling an Amazon, while at right, a scene of Athena pursuing a Giant.

Of particular note this season is the black-glazed figural askos in the form of a lobster claw. This is the only known right-handed claw. Its naturalistic modeling, with small raised nodules along the surface, give the piece a wonderful tactile quality.