Lot 639

Anatolian Yortan Culture Blackware Beak-Spout Pitcher

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Lot 639
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Anatolian Yortan Culture Blackware Beak-Spout Pitcher
Anatolian Yortan Culture Blackware Beak-Spout Pitcher
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Anatolian Yortan Culture Blackware Beak-Spout Pitcher

Estimate: $700 - $1,000

Starting Bid: $350

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
July 30, 2026 8:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Ancient West Asia, Anatolia, Early Bronze Age II, Yortan Culture, ca. 2700–2400 BCE. A burnished blackware pitcher, its near-spherical body rising into a tall, obliquely cut beak spout, with a single strap handle arching from shoulder to rim. The carbon-rich surface, characteristic of the Yortan ceramic tradition, was achieved through reduction firing and polished while leather-hard, yielding a metallic sheen with some mineral encrustation. Three low relief medallions sit on the shoulder at regular intervals, raised bosses that may serve an ornamental or apotropaic function, possibly echoing breast or solar disk imagery found across Early Bronze Age Anatolian funerary wares.


The Yortan culture, named for the cemetery site near Balıkesir in northwestern Anatolia, flourished during the third millennium B.C. and is known largely through grave goods: cist and pithos burials accompanied by small dark vessels such as this one, intended to carry oil, wine, or unguents into the next world. The asymmetric beak spout, a form that later influenced Trojan and Hittite ceramic traditions, gives the piece its distinctive profile. Size: 3.5" W x 6" H x 4.3" D (8.9 cm W x 15.2 cm H x 10.9 cm D).

Provenance: private Atlanta, Georgia, USA collection; ex-Ancient Resource Auctions, California, USA; ex-Gorny and Mosch, Munich, Germany; ex-Sammlung Karl Jakob Muller 1950 - 1977, Frankfurt, Germany

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Item # 202928

  • Condition: Spout and handle have been professionally reattache with some infill, restoration, and repainting along partially visible break lines. Small area of restoration to spout and stable hairline fissure to body. Light surface wear as shown, but, otherwise, nice presentation with scattered earthen deposits.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $749 $25
$750 $1,499 $50
$1,500 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $7,499 $250
$7,500 $14,999 $500
$15,000 $29,999 $1,000
$30,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000