Etruscan Olla with Relief Checkerboard Pattern

Culture: Etruscan

Period: 700-650 B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: ca. 39 cm high

Price: 9 000 Euro

Ref: 4236

Provenance: Swiss private collection, acquired in March 1996 from Donati Arte Classica in Lugano. Accompanied by a copy of the certificate.

Condition: The white-painted areas are partially worn. The vase has likely been professionally reassembled from a few fragments, now invisibly.

Description: A beautifully preserved, globular olla made of reddish impasto ware, its body decorated with a chequered-pattern relief. This type of vase, which is of impressive size, is therefore also known as an “olla a scacchiera.” The pattern was created by stamping rectangles of varying sizes into the clay in seven rows, with every second rectangle – offset in each row – painted white. The base is flat, the neck short, and the rim flares outward and is rounded. Such vessels were used for storing liquids and grain. „Olle a scacchiere“ were primarily produced in Vulci and Poggio Buco. See, for the type, a pair sold at Christie’s New York on 17 October 2023, lot 10, as well as the one in the collections of the National Museums of World Culture (Världskulturmuseerna) in Stockholm, with the inventory number MM 1967:001. A very similar example is also housed in the Fondazione Luigi Rovati in Milan.