Bowl

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Bowl

Place of OriginGreece (Hellenistic)

Dateabout 100 BCE

Dimensions2 1/2 × 9 × 8 11/16 in. (6.4 × 22.8 × 22.1 cm)

MediumSheet silver formed by lathe spinning, with flat chased and engraved decoration, partly gilding.

ClassificationMetalwork

Credit LinePurchased with funds given in Memory of Kurt T. Luckner, TMA ancient art curator 1969–1995

Object number

2004.2

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

Collections

Decorative Arts

Published References"Recent acquisitions," Newsletter of the Decorative Arts Society, Inc., vol. 13, no. 1, Spring 2005, p. 18.Exhibition HistoryLiving Long Ago: Works of Art from the Ancient World, exhibition at Fortuna Fine Arts, Ltd., 984 Madison Avenue, New York, Fall 2003 (catalogue by Constantine A. Marinescu and Sarah E. Cox), cat. no. 38.Comparative ReferencesSee also Donald E. Strong, Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 1966) p. 112.

cf. Andrew Oliver, Silver for the Gods, exhibition catalogue (Toledo Museum of Art 1977) pp. 80-81, cat. no. 44 (bowl in Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg).

cf. Michael Pfrommer, Metalwork from the Hellenized East (Malibu, CA: The J. Paul Getty Museum 1993) pp. 116-119, cat. nos. 4 and 5.

Label TextThis shallow bowl (phiale) shape used to drink wine and to pour liquid offerings to the gods was called a calotte, meaning a flattened dome or skullcap. The beaded edge around the medallion and the pattern of intersecting wavy bands were hammered with punches, while the elegant medallion of flowers, leaves, and vines was engraved freehand with pointed tools. Each pair of flowers is different. The shape and the decoration are similar to sets of fashionable bowls made throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, in glass and in clay as well as in bronze, silver, and gold. The bowl was acquired in honor of Kurt Luckner (1945–1995), the Museum’s first Curator of Ancient Art and a charismatic ambassador for great art.