This is a wonderfully preserved neck amphora from Corinth, dating to the mid-sixth century B.C. The body has an incized picture frieze, showing large rosettes alternating with stylized bundles of lotus flowers; in the centre of the front is a wonderful depiction of a grotesque man with thin arms and legs and a huge phallus; he is shown in a crouching position, supporting himself with his right hand on a wheel and his left hand on a cudgel. In all probability this caricature is a komast. A komast figure (literally "reveller", from the Greek word komastes) is a drunken person, usually associated with the worship of Dionysos and the origins of Greek drama. Two strap handles lead from the shoulder to just beneath the collar-shaped mouth, which is slightly ribbed on the inside. The flat shoulder has a incized tongued frieze and near the foot is a corona of rays. On the bottom of the foot a dipinto: T. This vase is a very rare type. Height ca. 20 cm.

Literature: Tyler Jo Smith, Komast Dancers in Archaic Greek Art (Oxford Monographs on Classical Archaeology) (Oxford University Press, 2010); idem, 'The Corpus of Komast Vases: From Identity to Exegesis' in Eric Csapo - Margaret C. Miller (eds.), The Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and Beyond. From Ritual to Drama (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007) p. 48-76; H.A.G. Brijder – G. Strietman, Siana Cups I and Komast Cups (Amsterdam, Allard Pierson Museum, 1983); Axel Seeberg, Corinthian Komos Vases (London, University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, 1971); Wilhelm Hornbostel, Aus Gräbern und Heiligtümern. Die Antikensammlung Walter Kropatscheck (Mainz am Rhein, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1980), p. 37-38 no. 29 (on an aryballos), p. 61-65 nos 45-46 (for other komast vases); Georgia Franzius, Tänzer und Tänze in der archaischen Vasenmalerei (diss. Göttingen, 1973) p. 9 ff., 110 ff.

there is a reserve on this lot.

Intact/generally excellent, freshly-preserved, with two small and shallow rim chips and a tiny chip on the bottom of the foot; some scratches and surface wear as usual on ancient vases.