Classical world, Southern Italy, Apulia, Messapian tribe, ca. 5th to 3rd century BCE. A stylish example of the most famous Messapian form, the trozella (sometimes "trozzella"). The vessel has high strap handles, each punctuated at the top by round "wheels" ("trozella" means, in the local dialect, "little wheels"). The body is wide, with a pronounced rim that flows seamlessly into the handles, and the entire piece stands on a short, round foot. Around the body are well-rendered, diamond-shaped designs with cross-hatched interiors, and concentric bands as well as stippled motifs around the shoulders, all in an umber hue atop a creamy-beige ground. An uppercase Greek "Psi" letter rests at the base of one handle near the mouth opening, with X-shaped designs around it. A beautiful example! Size: 7.25" W x 8.875" H (18.4 cm x 22.5 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.

See a similar example, with less refined artwork, that sold in 2001 at Christie's for $1723: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/a-messapian-pottery-trozella-circa-330-300-bc-3806993-details.aspx

Provenance: private Secaucus, New Jersey, USA collection

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#131336

Expected age-commensurate surface wear, with minor nicks to rim, handles, and base. Fading and some discoloration to pigmentation, with a couple of stable hairline fissures on body, otherwise intact and excellent. Light earthen deposits throughout.