Terracotta kernos (vase for multiple offerings)

Period:: Early Cycladic III–Middle Cycladic I

Date:: ca. 2300–2200 B.C.

Culture:: Cycladic

Medium:: Terracotta

Dimensions:: Overall: 13 5/8 in. (34.6 cm) Other: 14in. (35.5cm)

Classification:: Vases

Credit Line:: Purchase, The Annenberg Foundation Gift, 2004

Accession Number:: 2004.363.1

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 151

Although the kernos was used in widely disparate regions during the prehistoric period, particularly impressive examples have come to light in the Cyclades, and this is one of the grandest preserved. The receptacles probably contained foodstuffs of various kinds or perhaps of flowers.

The kernos was found, together with the jar (2004.363.2) and the jug (2004.363.3) displayed nearby in this gallery, in 1829 in a tomb on Melos by Captain Copeland, a British naval officer. In 1857 his widow gave the objects to Eton College, where they remained until coming to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on loan in 1996.

Said to be from Melos (Bosanquet 1896-97, p. 58, no. 8).

1829, excavated from a tomb in Melos; by 1836, acquired by Captain Copeland, R.N., in Greece; until 1857, collection of Captain Copeland, England; 1857-2004, Copeland collection, Eton College; 1996-2004, on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; acquired June 7, 2004, purchased from Eton College, England.

Bosanquet, Robert Carr. 1896–1897. "Notes from the Cyclades." Annual of the British School at Athens, 3: nos. 8, 60, p. 58.

McConnell, James, Jeremy M. Potter, and William Winter. 1976. Treasures of Eton fig. 130, London: Chatto & Windus.

Picón, Carlos A. 1986. Classical Antiquities from Private Collections in Great Britain: A Loan Exhibition in Aid of the Ashmole Archive. no. 2, p. 16, London: Sotheby's, London.

Vogel, Carol. November 5, 2004. "Three Gems of Greek Art Are Acquired by the Met." The New York Times, Section E. p. 37.

Picón, Carlos A. 2005. "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2004-2005." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 63(2): p. 6.

Masello, David, Dick Kagan, and Doris Goldstein. 2005. "100 Top Treasures." Art & Antiques, 28(11): no. 95, pp. 101–2.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2005. "One Hundred Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 135: p. 21.

Picón, Carlos A. 2006. "A Group of Cycladic Vases in New York." Genethlion: Anamnestikos tomos gia tes symplerose eikosi chonon leitourgias tou Mouseiou Kykladikes Technes, Nikolaos Stampolides, ed. pp. 35–42, figs. 1–4, Athens: Mouseio Kykladikes Technes.

Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 13, pp. 37, 411, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mertens, Joan R. 2010. How to Read Greek Vases. no. 1, pp. 11, 24, 32–35, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Forge, Oliver and Brendon Lynch, London. 2010. Important Sales of Antiquities and Islamic and Indian Art, 2000-2010. cat. 15, New York: Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch Ltd.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. p. 62, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Essays
Early Cycladic Art and Culture

Timelines
Southern Europe, 8000–2000 B.C.