Early Cypriot Red Burnished-Ware Vase
Bronze Age, circa 2300-1650 B.C. Bulbous bodied with a cylindrical neck and everted rim, decorated with incised geometric motifs: chequered squares, vertical chevrons, hatched and striped lozenges, combed circumferential bands; accompanied by an acrylic display base. Cf. The British Museum, museum numbers 1888,0927.29 and 2001,0423.4, for similar motifs.375 grams, 20 cm high (7 7/8 in.). Acquired in the 1990s. From the deceased estate of a North Yorkshire private collector, UK. Ex Den of Antiquity, Cambridgeshire, UK. Red burnished ware pottery became the dominant pottery ware lasting into the Middle Bronze Age on the island of Cyprus. Vessels were handmade and covered with a slip, which was burnished and often decorated with patterns incised with a sharp cutting edge before being fired. Potters were able to produce vessels that were either mottled or painted in two colours, often red outside and black inside and on the exterior of the rim.