Predynastic Period, Naqada IIB-C, 3500-3200 BC. A squat globular ceramic jar with broad string-hole handles to the shoulders, flat everted rim and round bottom; the body decorated with a series of reddish-brown spirals and zigzag lines with further zigzag decoration to the applied handles. See for comparable jars on display at the Egyptian Museum of Turin, Suppl. 4689, the Brooklyn Museum, accession number 07.447.440 and the Archaeological Museum of Florence, Inv. n. 8766, 8761, 8764; see also Graff, G., Les vases de Nagada I - Nagada II. Nouvelle approche sémiologique de l'iconographie prédynastique, Leuven: University Press, 2009; Petrie, W.M.F., Naqada and Ballas, London, 1895, Bernard Quaritch; Petrie, W.M.F., Corpus of Prehistoric Pottery and Palettes, London, 1921; Wodzi?ska, A., A Manual of Egyptian Pottery. Voume 1: Fayum A – Lower Egyptian Culture, Boston, 2010. 1.3 kg, 22.5cm wide (9"). From an important London W1, gallery; previously in the Ligabou collection, 1965-1970; two old collection stickers to the base with collection numbers 241 and A8815 (Charles Ede); accompanied by an academic report by Dr Alberto Maria Pollastrini; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10756-177400. From the Naqada II Period (3500-3200 BCE) onward, potters started to use pulverised marlstone, a carbonate-rich stone coming from the desert, to produce vases (Wodzi?ska, 2010, 119-120"). The fired clay had a typical rosy/reddish colour which provided a background for the various decorated patterns, usually painted on it with red ochre diluted in water. This jar can easily be placed in the group called D-ware or decorated ware, a classification of Predynastic pottery originating from Flinders Petrie’s seriation of Predynastic material (Petrie, 1896, 40-41; Petrie, 1921, pl. XXXVI"). Pottery vessels such as this jar date between the Naqada IIB and Naqada IIC periods and are found mostly in sites located in Upper Egypt. [A video of this lot can be viewed on the Timeline Auctions website]