Cypriot Poppy Flask Circa 1400-1200 B.C. Middle Bronze Age

Ring based with bulbous body, a double ridge where the strap handle joins the neck.

A "bil bil" or poppy flask with a fat body, long bottle neck with spreading lip and two moulded rings at junction with the neck and handle.

The name Base Ring Ware comes from the base of the vessel, which is made in the shape of a ring, and is added on after completion of the body. The ware is handbuilt, and usually has very thin walls. The monochrome fabric is fired to different shades of red and brown, often with a black core, and covered by a red, brown, or black slip which is usually burnished. It is often decorated with relief lines (Base Ring I), or painted with matt white linear decorations (Base Ring II), thought perhaps to imitate the white latex oozing from the cuts of an opium poppy head; a theory put forward first by Merrilees.

It is uniquely Cypriot, and as such, was extensively traded and highly valued in the ancient world. Its presence is diagnostic for the Late Cypriot period. Much of this ware actually comes from Egypt and nowadys more so from Syro-Palastine to which regions it was extensively exported. 14cms high

Condition - Good, intact, minor chip to rim. No restoration or repair

Provenance;
Property of an English private collector, Mr F of Surry ( 1909 - 1984 ), acquired in the 1960s

GBP £265.00 Stock No;2003 SOLD

Back to Antiquities