Code: 1019
Description: A good-sized orange pottery exaleiptron comprising a shallow bowl with a convex outer wall and a vertical inward hanging lip, a ring foot, and a single reflex strap-handle attached at a slight upward angle. The handle, interior of the bowl, and the rim painted red with a band of red dots and two concentric red circles on the shoulder. The underside decorated with a series of thin red concentric bands. Some patches of calcareous encrustation and a hairline crack on the shoulder and on the interior of the bowl but sound, with some minor wear to the decoration. Reputedly recovered from the seabed off Cyprus.
Size: 136 mm/5.4 ins. in diameter and 49 mm/1.9 ins. high
Culture: Greek/Cypriote
Date: c. 500-700 B.C.
Provenance: Ex Peter Negus collection.
Background: Peter Negus (1920-2012) was a prolific collector who worked in the insurance industry for most of his life. His wife worked for Coutts Bank for many years and they shared an enormous passion for natural history, geology and archaeology, amassing a large and rather indiscriminate collection of fossils, shells and ancient artefacts. He was particularly interested in ancient corals publishing two scientific papers on the subject, which included descriptions of new species. He also had a particular interest in conservation and Egyptology, buying many Egyptian artefacts from dealers in the Drury Lane area of London. He was a member of the Geologists’ Association for over 50 years, acting as Treasurer from 1979 to 1988. Well-known for his geological and archaeological interests and as a colourful raconteur, he left much of his estate to the Egyptology Department of University College, London
Supplied with an old dealers label.
