Greek Metalwork:Bronze ladle (kyathos)
Inv. No.: 92.005
Provenance: Greece
Date: 300-200 BC
Diameter: 65mm (bowl)
Length: 272mm
Width: 6 - 15mm (handle)
Gift of Gordon Story.
An elegant bronze ladle with a low round bowl and elongated flat strap handle that rises vertically from the bowl rim, bends over at the top in a tight curve and is formed into a duck head at its end. This type of ladle with animal head handle was popular in Greece and Etruria. Examples with the handle ending in two animal heads are also found along with similar ladles that have deeper bowls. In this piece, the width of the handle is more or less the same for most of its length, flaring slightly before it joins the bowl and also towards its top, shortly before it bends over, so that wings are formed on either side. Above the wings, the handle is narrower and continues to taper slightly. Circular marks are visible on the interior of the bowl and there is a small round depression in the centre of the base of the bowl, on its outer surface, probably caused by a pointed tool used to hold the bowl in place while it was polished. Short sections of the square bowl rim have been cut and raised on each side, forming small spurs that curve back towards the handle. They probably enabled the ladle to be hooked onto a vessel rim, allowing drainage of its contents. The ladle is dark red-brown in colour and is in excellent condition.
Function:
Used to ladle small quantities of liquid, perhaps oil.
Manufacture:
The bowl was cast using a mould while the handle was perhaps hammered into shape before being joined onto the bowl.
Decoration:
- Grooves run along the edges of the outside surface of the handle, commencing at the flaring wings, running down to the bowl and continuing around the outer surface of the rim until they reach the upturned rests.
- The duck head is simplified in shape, and roughly formed. It ends in a long beak that curves upwards. A large left eye is indicated by an oval depression on that side with a more rudimentary eye on the right side of the head.
Bibliography:
Hayes, J. W., Greek, Roman, and Related Metalware in the Royal Ontario Museum: A Catalogue, Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, 1984, 40-46 ["Bronze Ladles (Kyathoi)"].
Steinberg, A., "Techniques of Working Bronze", in D. G. Mitten and S. F. Doeringer, Master Bronzes from the Classical World, Mainz on Rhine, Philipp von Zabern, 1967, 9-15.
Story, G. D., The Gordon Story Collection of Ancient Artefacts, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane College of Advanced Education, 1982, No. 128.
Strong, D. E., Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate, London, Methuen, 1966, 91-92.
Comparanda:
Burn, L., The British Museum Book of Greek and Roman Art, London, British Museum Press, 1991, Fig. 145 (ladle with duck head and deeper bowl; part of a tomb group, c. 350-300 BC).
Comstock, M. and C. Vermeule, Greek, Etruscan & Roman Bronzes in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Greenwich, Connecticut, New York Graphic Society, 1971, No. 605 (similar shape).
Green, J. R., Antiquities: A description of the Classics Department Museum in The Australian National University, Canberra, Canberra, Faculty of Arts, The Australian National University, 1981, 100 (No. 74.02; similar handle, but deeper bowl, "probably 250-150 BC").
Hayes, J. W., Greek, Roman, and Related Metalware in the Royal Ontario Museum: A Catalogue, Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, 1984, Nos. 2 (silver), 48-54 (all bronze, but with a wide angle rather than a tight curve at the top of the handle), 91-93 (No. 93 is similar in shape, but the handle end is missing).
Richter, G. M. A., Catalogue of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1956, Pl. XIX, A (silver example; Hellenistic or Roman period).
Rolley, C., Monumenta Graeca et Romana. Volumen V: Les Arts Mineurs Grecs, Fasciculus 1: Les Bronzes, Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1967, No. 152 (similar but smaller; 4th/3rd century BC).
Strong, D. E., Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate, London, Methuen, 1966, Plate 22A (silver example; Hellenistic).