Attributed to the Salonika Painter 38.290, Lekanis, c. 400 BC. Pottery. Height 15.5 cm; length between handles 31 cm. J. Bagot Arqueología - Ancient Art at Brafa Art Fair, Brussels, 21-29 january 2017.

A red-figure pottery lekanis with an iconographic scene on the upper surface of the lid showing the preparations for a wedding. The base is decorated with black varnish with red decorative patterns. The body is circular with two handles decorated with spiral edging. The body is circled by a crown of laurel leaves and the inside of the vessel shows a black varnish of good quality. 

The slightly conical lid is decorated with a circular scene with two naked figures of Eros flying around with ribbons and baskets, gifts suitable for a wedding ceremony. Two women with baskets, mirrors and nuptial ribbons are seated between them. The scene is finished with modest floral decorations and a band of ovolo around the edge of the lid.

A knob handle protrudes from the center of the lid in the form of a disk decorated with circles and a geometric band, combining the black varnish with the reserved red zones to complete the aesthetics of the vessel as seen from above.

A Lekanis is a type of pottery from Ancient Greece in the form of a low bowl with a disc foot and two horizontal handles on the rim. It is shaped to receive a lid, forming a continuous vertical surface with the rim of the lid. It was used to hold a range of small objects, also to contain ointments and for use in personal hygiene. They were used in the complicated marriage rituals and formed part of the dowry that the father gave to the bride.

Following on from earlier geometrical styled forms, in the second half of the 6th century BC, the lekanis was formalized and became one of the frequent forms of red figure pottery. Pieces from the period of black figure pottery were usually made without lids, while red figure painted lekani are typically found with decorated lids. Over time, the lids, which were at first in a domed shape, tended to flatten out and form a right-angle with the vertical rim. The lids also acquired a top handle which, if it were sufficiently wide, could serve as a foot if the lid were inverted so that it, too, could be used as a container. In these reversible lekani the decoration was limited to animal themed friezes, as opposed to those habitually used with nuptial themes. The decorative images wound in continuous form around the vessel. 

Red-figure pottery was one of the most important figurative styles of Greek production. It developed in Greece around the year 530 BC and was used until the 3rd Century BC. It took the place of the previously dominant style of black-figure pottery within a few decades. The technical base was the same in both cases, but in the red-figure pieces the colour was reversed, so that the figures stood out against a dark background as if they were lit up by theatrical lighting, following a more natural scheme. The painters who worked with black figures were forced to keep motifs clearly separated one from the other and to limit the complexity of the illustration. In contrast, the red-figure technique allowed greater freedom. Each figure was silhouetted against a dark background allowing the painters to render anatomic details with greater exactitude and variety.

The technique consisted of painting motifs on a still moist piece, using a transparent glossy slip which, on firing, took on an intense black colouration. The motifs were therefore invisible before the firing and so painters had to work completely from memory without seeing the result of their work beforehand. Once the piece had been fired the zones not covered by the slip retained the reddish tone of the clay, while those that had been “painted” with the slip took on a dense, brilliant black colouration.

Attribution carried out by Dr. Michael Padgett, Curator of Ancient Art in the Princeton University Art Museum, USA. 

With Thermoluminescence test. 

Provenance: From the collection of the well-known Barcelona jeweller, Octavio Sardà. Acquired between 1968 and 1979. There is a certificate of authenticity for the piece dated 14 May 1979.

J. Bagot Arqueología - Ancient Art - Classical and Egyptian Antiquities. Consell de Cent 278, 08007 Barcelona, Spain