Candle or Kandela. Cyclades Islands, Greece, Grotta... Lot 126

Candle or Kandela. Cyclades Islands, Greece, Grotta Pelos Phase, Early Cycladic I, 2800 BC. Marble. Provenance: - Private collection, Paul Delpace, Belgium, acquired in the 1969s. - Private collection, Germany. Purchased at Christie's Antiquities, 2012, lot 79. In good condition. Measurements: 24.5 cm (height) x 20 cm (diameter). This harmoniously proportioned vessel was characteristic of the early phase of the Cycladic culture, called Grotta Pelos, especially during the Early Bronze Age (3200-2700 BC). It has a broad body with an ellipsoidal profile, with very pronounced shoulders, from which the long, broad, encroaching neck projects. At the base there is a conical foot, which elevates the piece and gives it a certain solemn appearance. On the body there are four protuberances in the shape of a crescent moon, arranged vertically and equidistant from each other, with a perforation in the middle, possibly to allow ropes to be inserted to hold the lid of the vessel. This prototype is popularly known as a candle or kandela, due to its resemblance to the lamps used in Greek Orthodox Christian churches. Although scholars have not reached a consensus on its function - either a domestic or ritual use or both - some authors have pointed to a possible symbolic use due to its resemblance to the shape of the pomegranate fruit. In this regard, it is interesting to note that two of these pieces have been found in funerary contexts, as offerings to the gods of the Underworld, filled with seashells. The fact that these pieces were carved in marble would point to a desire for durability and to their special consideration in Cycladic rituals. Similar examples are housed in The Fitzwilliam Museum, the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and the Sainsburys Centre for Visual Arts. The Cyclades, an archipelago in the southwestern Aegean, is made up of some 30 small islands and numerous islets. In antiquity, the Greeks gave it this name because they imagined that they formed a circle around the sacred island of Delos, where the sanctuary of Apollo was located. At the end of the 3rd millennium BC, an agricultural culture developed in whose settlements curious vessels and statuettes carved in marble from Paros and Antiparos have been found, particularly those of the 'violin' type, whose bodies are reminiscent of the silhouette of the musical instrument. Both the kandelas and these figurines would have been carved with stone tools. Although the tools used by the craftsmen have not survived, current research and experimental archaeology have suggested that the tools may have been made of emery, a heavy, dense and abundant material on the island of Naxos. Thanks to the qualities of this mineral, it was used to polish and shape marble, a technique that was soon to be perfected by the sculptors of the Greek islands.