Greek West Slope Ware juglet, Athens, 2nd century BC
Terracotta
Height: 12.3cm
8563
Juglet in West Slope Ware with a cutaway spout, arching handle and biconical body. The decoration en barbotine consists of a band of linked pendant drops at the shoulder around...
Juglet in West Slope Ware with a cutaway spout, arching handle and biconical body. The decoration en barbotine consists of a band of linked pendant drops at the shoulder around the base of the neck, with an incised collar below that is decorated with added red pigment. Intact, with some slight abrasion, particularly affecting the handle, that has been touched in.
The West Slope Ware fabric is so-called after finds discovered on the west slope of the Acropolis at Athens. By the Hellenistic period, c.300-100 BC, the tastes for tableware had evolved, and those made of metals had become the height of fashion. As such, potters began to imitate the forms and decoration used in these gold, silver and bronze chased vessels. Red-figure pottery of the last few centuries was being rapidly replaced by these black-glazed vessels, which, unlike their 5th-4th century predecessors, had many relief or impressed designs, ribbed bodies, and decoration subject matter generally took the form of garlands of fruits, flowers, leaves and scrolls.
The West Slope Ware fabric is so-called after finds discovered on the west slope of the Acropolis at Athens. By the Hellenistic period, c.300-100 BC, the tastes for tableware had evolved, and those made of metals had become the height of fashion. As such, potters began to imitate the forms and decoration used in these gold, silver and bronze chased vessels. Red-figure pottery of the last few centuries was being rapidly replaced by these black-glazed vessels, which, unlike their 5th-4th century predecessors, had many relief or impressed designs, ribbed bodies, and decoration subject matter generally took the form of garlands of fruits, flowers, leaves and scrolls.
Provenance
Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819-1899), St. Nicholas-les-Arras, France; old collection label to the lower body with 263 and another to the base with unclear writingBellon was a keen supporter of the arts throughout his life. He numbered among his friends artists such as Dutilleux, Carot and Daguerre. In the 1850s he carried out regular excavations in Saint-Nicolas-les-Arras of the Gallo-Roman and Merovingian necropoles. He developed a particular passion for Tanagra figurines and amassed a large collection, the biggest in France. Part of it featured in a famous exhibition in the Trocadero in 1878 and again in Rouen in 1884.
