Magenta boar

Magenta ware (terracotta)
Hellenistic, ca. 2nd/1st century BC
H. 14cm; L. 14cm

Askos in form of a boar, naturalistically rendered, with visible teeth and expressive eyes. Magenta ware is a class of pottery of household containers (mostly lamp fillers and flasks) in the form of statuettes. The statuettes were made in double molds and joint togrther, probably in Campania. The subjects include mythology, the comic stage, genre, fantasy and animals.

Cf. R.A. Higgins, “Magenta Ware” in the British Musuem Yearbook I (1976) pp. 1-32.

Exhibited: Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva, as a loan by the collector for a number of years.

Condition: Recomposed from fragments. Joints invisible.

Provenance: Swiss private collection, Basel, before 1970

Item reference: CL1407