A red-figure pottery pelike. The vessel is richly decorated on one side with the figure of a winged Eros seated on a rocky outcrop, holding out a phiale in his right hand, his left hand held down to the side. The god with pulled up hair is wearing a stephane and is ornamented with wrist bracelets and strands of beads around the lower chest. A panel of ovolo above. The reverse is decorated with the head of a lady of fashion between palmettes, wave pattern above. The foot is reserved.
Supplied with its modern purpose made stand (the securing nails of which have been removed to allow access).
 
Greek colonies of southern Italy, Apulian: Circa 340-320 BC.
 
Very Fine condition; complete and intact; a small minor rim chip, along with a few even smaller nicks around the top.
Height 24 cms (9.45 ins). Height with stand 28 cms (11 ins).
 
Provenance: From the Collection of the late William Gladstone Stewart (1933-2017). William Stewart was host of television show 'Fifteen to One', a British general knowledge quiz show broadcast on Channel 4. It originally ran from 11 January 1988 to 19 December 2003 and had a reputation for being one of the toughest quizzes on TV. Throughout the show's original run, it was presented and produced by William G. Stewart. Thousands of contestants appeared on the programme, which had very little of the chatting between host and contestants that is often a feature of other television quiz shows. The series prize tended to be a classical artefact (for example an ancient Greek vase). Prizes were occasionally valued at several million pounds by archaeologists.
 
See our blog post on Ancient Greek pottery