A MARBLE VASE IN THE FORM OF A PYXIS (BOX) SURMOUNTED BY AN OINOCHOE (JUG), GREEK, 4TH-3RD CENTURY B

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A MARBLE VASE IN THE FORM OF A PYXIS (BOX) SURMOUNTED BY AN OINOCHOE (JUG), GREEK, 4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.E. Carved from a fine-grained white marble, the vessel is conceived in two registers worked from a single composition. The lower element takes the form of a pyxis, of waisted cylindrical profile rising from four short tab feet to a moulded base and a corresponding moulded cornice at the rim. Set directly above, and rising without interruption from the upper moulding, is an oinochoe of trefoil-mouthed type, the body tapering from a broad sloping shoulder to a narrow neck and pinched spout. A high-arched handle springs from the shoulder and returns to the rim, terminating in a carved thumb-rest in the form of a stylised lotus bud or poppy capsule. The marble retains a warm cream patina with areas of light ochre staining, and the surface is smooth and softly weathered, the carved details crisp but no longer sharp. The composition is unusual in combining two well-defined vessel types into a single sculptural object. The pyxis, a lidded container associated in Greek domestic use with the storage of cosmetics, jewellery, and small valuables, belonged principally to the world of women and is frequently recovered from funerary contexts as a personal grave good. The oinochoe, by contrast, is a wine-pouring vessel of the symposium and of libation ritual, its trefoil mouth designed for controlled pouring. The conjunction of the two forms, with the jug emerging from the box as though set upon a stand, suggests a votive or funerary purpose rather than a practical one, the object combining attributes of the female domestic sphere with those of the libation poured at the tomb. Marble vessels of this scale were luxury objects in the Greek world. Where pottery served daily and ritual use across all social levels, the carving of a vase from stone required the selection of a sound block, the skill of a sculptor rather than a potter, and a patron willing to commission a piece whose function was largely commemorative. Marble pyxides and miniature stone vessels are recorded from sanctuary deposits and from richer burials of the late Classical and early Hellenistic periods, where they stood as permanent substitutes for the perishable ceramic and metal originals they imitated. The choice of marble, the material of monumental sculpture and of the grave stele, lent such vessels a dignity beyond their modest dimensions. This vase exemplifies the late Classical and Hellenistic practice of translating familiar ceramic shapes into stone for votive and funerary use, in which the resulting object is no longer a container but a sculptural citation of one. The deliberate stacking of pyxis and oinochoe within a single carved composition places it among the more inventive survivals of the type, where the sculptor has used the language of household vessels to make an object that belongs to the tomb. Height: 28cm

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