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Marble spouted bowl

Cycladic

ca. 2700–2400/2300 BCE

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 151

Technical Analysis: Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence examination, optical microscopy

This marble spouted bowl, or sauceboat (kymbe), is nearly intact with a mended crack in the body and small loss above the lug handle. It is a hemispherical open vessel with a bridge spout and a lug of white marble with lighter striations carved in a way to create a visual effect. The walls are thin and the lower part of the body is concave lacking stability when it is empty; the vessel probably was made to be held in one hand. Its mouth is nearly circular and ends in a vertical rounded out-turned rim. It rises toward the spout. At the diametrically other end, there is a trapezoid protruding lug placed in oblique angles below the rim. The spout broadens to its end having a flaring outline and its edges have elevated and pointed rim walls. This type of vessel is briefly discussed by Getz–Gentle.(1) Similar fragments have been found within the special deposits on Keros Kavos.(2) Within the Stern Collection of Cycladic Art, L.2022.38.118 and .148 are similar vessels.

The marble is translucent and the preservation of the surface is good with calcareous accretions in places. A previous repair involved bonding a fragment (that includes the spout) to the bowl, filling and inpainting. In addition, there are several small, round fills on the exterior along a section of the bonded join. There are scratches to the interior surface. The rim is weathered in places, especially at the spout, and there is a shallow loss at the rim above the lug handle. Light brown accretions are concentrated on the exterior.

Georgios Gavalas and Wendy Walker

(1) Pat Getz–Gentle, The Stone Vessels of the Cyclades in the Early Bronze Age, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996, p.109-112, pl. 58-61. Its closest parallel in size is F18 (Museum of Cycladic Art NPGoulandris Collection no 529, ead 1996, p.274, pl. 58d.

(2) See Gavalas Giorgos The Stone Vessels 2018, I Renfrew C, Philaniotou O., Brodie N., Gavalas G. and Boyd M., The Marble finds from Kavos and the Archaeology of Ritual, McDonald Institute Monographs 2018, The sanctuary on Keros and the origins of Aegean ritual practice, volume III,p. 302, fig. 4.20.