Marble vase with high foot and lug handles

ca. 3200–2800 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 151
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.
Technical analysis: Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence examination, optical microscopy


The vase is carved from white marble. It has a high conical foot that transitions to a rounded body topped with a tall, wide neck. Four vertical pierced lug handles are positioned around the body. Two areas of the rim have been filled and inpainted as have two curving cracks or flaws that run down the neck. Small losses are found on the rim, the lugs and the foot. There are extensive encrustations on the exterior and interior indicative of a burial environment. A sticker with "266" written in black ink is located in the recessed foot well.


Pat Getz-Gentle attributes this vase to the middle phase of her Kandila Sculptor A. The vessel was part of the Bernoulli collection and is likely to have been found in a tomb from an Early Cycladic cemetery on Herakleia, a small Cycladic island between Naxos and Ios.


Seán Hemingway, Wendy Walker, Federico Carò

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Marble vase with high foot and lug handles
  • Period: Early Cycladic I
  • Date: ca. 3200–2800 BCE
  • Culture: Cycladic
  • Medium: Marble
  • Dimensions: Height: 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm)
    Width: 5 1/2 in. (14 cm)
    Depth: 6 1/4 in. (15.8 cm)
    Diameter: 3 5/16 in. (8.4 cm)
    Thickness: 1/4 in. (.6 cm)
  • Classification: Stone Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Leonard N. Stern Collection, Loan from the Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Culture
  • Object Number: L.2022.38.145
  • Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art