Marble vase with high foot and lug handles

Technical analysis: Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence examination


This vessel, carved from marble, has losses to the foot and lugs, and a large, shallow fill on the rim that has been painted to tone. The marble is very rough and granular in areas and covered with light and dark brown root-like accretions.


The shape of the vase, also known as a kandila, after its resemblance to modern oil lamps of similar shape in Greek Orthodox churches, is composed of three elements: a tall, broad conical collar with a rim accented on the outside by a groove, a hemispherical body with four prominent elongated and perforated vertical suspension lugs, and a tall conical pedestal with an upward taper similar to that of the collar and with a thickened base rim. The lugs, spaced around the middle of the kandila at regular intervals, follow the entire curving contour of the vessel’s body, merging with it imperceptibly at the top and bottom. The interior of the vessel is not carved out to a significant extent and the pedestal is only slightly hollowed.


An unusually small example of its type, this kandila can be attributed to a fairly early phase in the development of the so-called Kandila Sculptor A, the most prolific and one of the finest Cycladic vessel makers. Works attributed to this artist range from seven to thirty-three centimeters ihowever,ter; however the especially large and small examples, like this one, are rare.


Produced in marble and clay, kandilai typically held liquids, such as oil or wine. Cords strung through the pierced lugs around the body could be used to hang the vase or attach a lid. Frequently found in tombs with marble figures, the vessels may have served a function in funerary rituals.


Alexis Belis and Wendy Walker