A Small Selection of Boeotian Terracottas from a North American Collection - Published Terracotta Mug

CNG 84, Lot: 1824. Estimate $1000. Sold for $600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Terracotta Mug. Boeotian, Archaic Period, 7th century BC. Single-handled mug with vertical black strips along the belly. Metope-like arrangement with six stripes on one side becoming narrower at the other end. Lower third as well as inside of the mug is covered with black glaze. Root marks on bottom. Height: 5.4cm. Ulrich Gehrig, Antiken aus Berliner Privatbesitz (Berlin: Antikenmuseum Berlin, 1975), 202 (this piece). Exhibited at the Antikenmuseum Berlin from December 1975 to February 1976. Handle repaired and stripes lightly faded on one side, otherwise a very rare piece in superb condition.

From a North American Boeotian Antiquities Collection. Ex Private Collection from Berlin, Germany.

A note on the history and evolution of Boeotian pottery

Despite the heavy cultural influence and large numbers of circulating vases from the neighboring Athenian and Corinthian masters, Boeotia managed to keep a significant part of its pottery production relatively original and unaffected. Prior to the Persian wars its people chiefly produced a type of geometric pottery with evident Mycenean influence, mainly destined for local circulation, composed of ceremonial, burial, and daily household items decorated with red-brown geometric motifs. Undoubtedly the most famous part of Boeotian terracotta production is the extensive series of female terracotta figurines produced in Tanagra between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC.

Almost inherent to Boeotian pottery is ceramic material from the famous sanctuary of the Kabeiroi (the Kabeirion). Thebes and its Kabeirion sanctuary site is possibly characteristic of the widely spread Kabeiric cult as a whole in the ancient world. The ceramic material from the Kabeirion sanctuary has been extensively studied and divided into five periods from the late 7th/early 6th centuries to the Hellenistic period.

Amongst others, two main kinds of vases associated with the preparation and consumption of wine are offered, the kantharos and the krater, both closely associated with Kabeiron cult in Boeotia.

Kantharos

This name applies to a drinking vessel with tall lip, shallow bowl, large vertical handles and stemmed foot. There are numerous variations in shape depending on the time period. The foot can be either squat or tall and the handles high or rounded.

Unsurprisingly for a vessel associated with drinking, it was closely linked to Dionysos, and numerous Boeotian vase paintings and even series of coins from Thebes, the Boeotian Federal mint and the mint of Thespiai show the kantharos either as a Boeotian symbol or being used in rituals by Dionysos and Heracles. The Kantharos appears in the archaeological record during the Protogeometric and Geometric periods. Black glaze examples, such as the one offered, arise early in the shape’s history in both Attica and Boeotia. In terms of decoration the plain black glaze remains the major decorative technique but later there are also red figure types.

Krater

The name of the vessel which was used to mix wine and water appropriately derives from the Greek verb kerannymi (“to mix”). There are four main krater types: column krater, kalyx krater, volute krater, and bell krater. Of these forms the bell and kalyx kraters have been found at the Kabeirion sanctuary area, although there are a large number of examples that have been classified simply as “krater”. The shape was in use from the Protogeometric period until late red figure period.

The krater offered features elaborate Kabeirian-type stamped decor, and belongs to the black figure period. The presence of this variety of krater at the sanctuary is easily explained: the bacchanalian revelry of the celebrations and the emphasis on symposia justifies the frequent appearance of kraters in the archaeological record at the Kabeirion.

Alongside the massive vase production of Athens, Boeotian pottery managed to retain its inherent individuality and beauty, a superb representative of Archaic and Classical mainland Greek Art.

From the Collector