A Canosan Polychrome Askos

Apulia, Circa Early 3rd Century B.C.

Length 10 1/2 inches (26.67 cm).

Property from a Florida Private Collection

Provenance:

The Pomerance Collection, prior to 1966.

Sotheby's New York, Antiquities and Islamic Art, 24 November 1986, Lot 119.

The Merrin Gallery, New York, 1998.

Published:

B. Bothmer, J. Keith, E.L.B. Terrace, The Pomerance Collection of Ancient Art, Brooklyn 1966, p. 100, no. 117.

Exhibited:

Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Pomerance Collection of Ancient Art, 14 June- 2 October 1966.

Note:

Surmounted by the sea monster Scylla and nine dolphins in relief jumping above a band of waves, this polychrome askos makes subtle reference to Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. In the poem, Odysseus and his crew sail past impregnable cliffs from which the sea monster is perched and fishes for her next meal. Moreover, Odysseus's son, Telemachus, fell into the ocean when he was an infant and was saved by dolphins. In their honor, Odysseus then went on to wear the emblem of dolphins on his shield during the Trojan War. For an example with similar scene, see The Boston Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts (Inv. no. 99.541); For an example of the trapezoidal form, see The British Museum, London (Inv. no. D203).

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Jacob Coley

Senior Vice President, Head of Department, Antiquities and Ancient Art

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Mr. Coley joined the Antiquities department in 2021 after working as Managing Director in the Ancient Art department at Colnaghi, the world’s oldest commercial art gallery, where he helped to establish the Ancient Art department and launched Colnaghi New York in 2017. Prior to Colnaghi, Mr. Coley was in the Greek and Roman Art department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Coley holds a B.A. from the University of Miami and an M.A. in Art Market from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and he earned an art-appraisal certificate from New York University.

Antiquities and Ancient Art: A Study

A Canosan Polychrome Askos

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