Kandila

AAT Object Form/Functionkandilai

CultureCycladic

PeriodEarly Cycladic

Dateca. 3000-2800 BCE

MediumMarble, Naxos-Apollonas/Apir/Kin

Credit LineCarlos Collection of Ancient Art

Dimensions5 3/8" (13.7 cm)

Object number2002.027.001

Label TextA rounded body surmounted by a straight, tapering neck rests on a pedestal foot. The mouth is slightly thickened. Four small string-hole handles probably secured a lid or covering, though they may also have been used to facilitate transportation. The neck and upper body are hollowed inside, and the surfaces smoothed. While the walls of the neck are quite thick, to ensure safety, and the lower body and foot remain solid, nevertheless the labor involved in producing such an object is remarkable: the tools available to the Cycladic sculptor were not bronze but obsidian (compare 2003.25.1), emery (abrasive) and pumice. As with the figural sculpture 2003.11.2, the function and significance of these jars cannot be recovered from a pre-literate society. It has been suggested that these vessels would have stored liquids, such as oil or wine, or solids such as grain, presumably for solemn, ceremonial occasions. One was allegedly found with a cup that fits the rim nicely as a stopper. But perhaps more exotic or precious objects like jewelry were sometimes intended, as suggested by the shells found in another.

Scholars today refer to jars of this shape as kandiles, after the hanging lamps in Greek churches which they somewhat resemble. There is no evidence (such as traces of burning around the rim), however, to suggest that these jars functioned as lamps in antiquity. Their substantial weight precludes the possibility that they were intended to be suspended, though it is possible that for transportation on important religious occasions they were supported from poles by straps. The few clay examples of this shape that survive do not always share the harmonious proportions of the marble versions. On the basis of shape and proportions, two sculptors (A and B) have been identified in the production of these vessels. This example has been attributed to Sculptor B; it is among the larger ones known.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2004 - June 19, 2014
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, July 2014 - Present
Published ReferencesMCCM Newsletter, December 2002 - February 2003.

ProvenanceEx coll. Franz Waldner, Munich, Germany, until 1963. Ex coll. Roland Ansermet, Neuchatel, Switzerland, acquired from Waldner, 1963. Possibly ex coll. Mrs. and Mr. J Vogt, acquired from Ansermet, after 2000. Purchased by MCCM from Christoph F. Leon, Basel, Switzerland.

Status

On view

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