Marble vase with lug handles

Technical analysis: Ultraviolet induced visible luminescence examination

This vase with lug handles, known as a beaker, is made from fine-grained, heteroblastic white marble. There is a loss to the rim that has been repaired in modern times. The tops of both lugs are chipped. The vessel gently widens from its conical base to the rim, which is slightly everted. The thickness of the walls varies from 8 mm at the bottom to 4 mm near the rim. The lugs are placed near the middle of the body on opposite sides and each have a large circular perforation. The exterior surface is carefully smoothed while the interior has horizontal ribbing from the drill used to hollow it out [check also add text on encrustation]. Getz-Gentle suggests that the lugs were originally designed to be taller but were damaged probably at the time of the original manufacture and she cites a number of other examples where this also appears to be the case.(1)


Seán Hemingway, Dorothy Abramitis, Federico Carò


(1) P. Getz-Gentle, Stone Vessels of the Cyclades in the Early Bronze Age (The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, Pennsylvania 1996), p. 51, fig. 28.