Monumental Pre-dynastic Vase of the Blacktop Ware

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Naqada II Culture, 3500-3200 B.C.

Material: Clay

Dimensions: 35 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 1385

Provenance: French private collection Haumont, acquired between 1980 and 2008. Sold on 14 July 2017 with Drouot Paris. Last on the English art market. With a French antiquities pass.

Condition: Three small shards on the rim reattached, but without any missing parts.

Description: Exceptionally large, very elegant vase of the so-called blacktop ware. The ovoid, hand-formed corpus tapering towards the flat base. The rim is rounded and pulled outside. The clay was covered with a red iron oxide, which developed the distinctive dark red color after burning. The black rim resulted after burning the vase, when the upper part is exposed to the thick smoke. See for the type with the rounded, everted rim and the convex form the vase with the nearly same size in the British Museum with the Registration Number 1926,0728.6. Mounted.