Classical World, Southern Italy, Apulia, Messapian tribe, ca. 5th to 3rd century BCE. A beautiful example of the most famous form of Messapian pottery, the trozella (also spelled trozzella). The vessel has high strap handles, each adorned with a pair of petite "wheels" ("trozella" means "little wheels" in the local dialect). The body is wide and squat, with a flared rim that flows effortlessly into the handles, and the entire vessel stands atop a short, round foot. Around the neck and shoulder are horizontal bands of linear decoration. Enveloped in rich earthen and marine deposits from centuries spent buried deep in the earth, a truly stunning example! Size: 6.1" W x 7.8" H (15.5 cm x 19.8 cm)

Although the Messapian people were influenced by Greek colonists in other parts of southern Italy, they had a distinctive culture that included burial practices uniquely their own - and their distinctive terracotta form, the trozella, played a role. Unlike the Greeks in Apulia, Messapians reused their tombs for several burials, probably from the same family. Whenever a tomb was reused, the earlier grave goods were removed, along with the body, and then reburied inside or outside the same tomb. In this culture, grave goods indicated both social standing and gender, and the trozella is only found in the graves of women. The quality of the artwork on this trozella suggests that it was placed in the tomb of a high-status woman.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection, acquired in the 1990s; ex-Joseph Ternbach collection, New York, USA; ex-Ben Smith estate, Newnan, Georgia, USA; purportedly ex-Sotheby's, Sale 1220, Lot 436, 1980s

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#179553

Minor chips to rim and foot and some nicks and abrasions to surface as shown, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, intact and excellent with liberal remaining pigments and heavy encrustations throughout. Sotheby's tag tied to arm and old collection labels on base and interior.