On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

Marble vase with high foot and lug handles

Cycladic

ca. 3200–2700 BCE

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 151

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

This slightly asymmetrical collared jar with a pedestal and four crescent-shaped perforated lugs is complete with mended losses at the rim, foot and one of the lugs. It has a conical, slightly tapering neck with a wide mouth and thick rounded rim. Its rather compressed hemispherical body with a flat narrow shoulder sits on a conical foot that has a large concave hollow and ring-like edges. The four long, crescent-shaped lugs, carved crosswise at equidistance, are pierced for suspension. One of the lugs was reworked in antiquity after the upper part of it broke. The newer lug is smaller and was pierced lower than the original perforation and cuts deeper into the body surface. This entire lug shows signs of reworking. Circular, striated tool marks, which have been smoothed, are visible in the interior of the vessel. The outer surface is polished smooth.

Its notably small size is within the range of this type.(1) It has been described as an early work of Kandila Sculptor B, although its size, the ring-like edge of the conical foot, and its nearly polished surfaces are rare features.(2) Its foot resembles L2022.38.101, which dates to a later period.

There is encrustation in places. The loss in the rim has been filled with a synthetic resin. There appears to be modern losses on the interior wall and some additional consolidation around the rest of the lip, although this is not visible under UV lighting. The loss at the edge of the foot, which is approximately 2 cm long and .4 cm tall, has been filled and inpainted.

Georgios Gavalas and J-F de Lapérouse

(1) Discussed by Getz–Gentle, Pat. 1996. The Stone Vessels of the Cyclades in the Early Bronze Age. pp. 5-39, University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

(2) Its closest parallel is Getz-Gentle 1996, Kandila B3, p. 246; Thimme, Jürgen ed. 1977. Art and Culture of the Cyclades, no. 275, 312,503; Buchholz, Hans-Günter and Vassos Karageorghis, eds. 1971. Altägäis und Altkypros. , no 1135, Tübingen: E. Wasmuth; L2022.38.38, 79, 130, 81 and 143 all seem to be of similar size.