A Minoan Painted Terra Cotta Larnax

Circa 1400-1200 B.C.
Height 26 x width 24 1/2 x depth 18 inches.

The octopus or squid depicted on each side is an iconic image of Minoan culture. A similar larnax, or sarcophagus, appears in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but with a more common floral design.

Provenance:

Collection of Ulla Gieslinde Lindner, Bad Birnbach, Bavaria, acquired prior to 1975

Harlan J. Berk, Chicago, May 10, 2011, Lot 266

Literature:

Im Labyrinth des Minos, Exhibition in Karlsruhe (2000), p. 315, no. 296

Repaired from numerous large fragments, with minor fill. Old chip in the surface near the octopus head on one side. Hairline crack forming at the rim on one of the shorter sides. Faint areas of possible overpainting where some of the repairs are filled; very minor. Surface wear and discolorations as is typical.

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Mr. Horn joined the firm in 2009 and has directed numerous sales of important collections, including those of Lilly Pulitzer, Lord Anthony and Lady Jacobs, Lars Bolander, Casa de Sueños in Miami Beach, and Villa Massei in Lucca, Italy. He has also achieved record results for consignments from prominent institutions, including the Toledo Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Minnesota Historical Society. Mr. Horn is a member of the Antiquarian Society of the Art Institute of Chicago and is an alumnus of the Attingham Trust.

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Mr. Fisher rejoined the firm in 2019 after working as a specialist in the American Furniture and Folk Art department at Sotheby’s New York. His areas of expertise include 18th, 19th, and 20th century American, Continental, and English furniture, decorative and folk art. Before coming to Hindman in 2013, Mr. Fisher worked in European Furniture and Decorative Arts in Philadelphia. He began his career working for a prints dealer focusing on works from the 16th through the 20th centuries.

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Antiquities & Islamic Art

A Minoan Painted Terra Cotta Larnax

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