A PAINTED POTTERY AMPHORA, BAN CHIANG, 1ST MILLENNIUM BCThailand. The globular body supported on a spreading foot and surmounted by a waisted neck and flaring rim, painted to the exterior with even red lines forming spirals on the creamy white ware.Provenance: Bruno Cooper, Norwich, United Kingdom, 2010. Paolo Bertuzzi, acquired from the above. A copy of the original invoice from Bruno Cooper, dated 4 December 2010, describing the present vessel as a Ban Chiang painted terracotta amphora dating from the 1st millennium BC, and stating a purchase price of EUR 2,700 or approx.EUR 3,500 (adjusted for inflation at the time of writing), apanies this lot. Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022) was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashionpany with customers such as the Rothschild family, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. Paolo Bertuzzi later took over his mother’s business and designed exclusive pieces, some of which were exhibited in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, USA. He was also an avid collector of antiques for more than 60 years. His collection includes both archaic and contemporary art, and he edited two important books about Asian art, Goa Made - An Archaeological Discovery, about a large-scale archaeological project carried out with the Italian and Indonesian governments, and Majapahit, Masterpieces from a Forgotten Kingdom.Condition: Good condition with old wear, small chips to the rims, encrustations, and cracks to the base.Weight: 2,456 gDimensions: Height 33.1 cmBan Chiang denotes an archeological site located in Nong Han district, Udon Thani Province, Thailand. Discovered in 1957, the site attracted enormous publicity due to its distinctive red-painted pottery. During the first formal scientific excavation in 1967, archaeologists unearthed several skeletons, together with bronze grave gifts and unglazed earthenware pots which had been low-fired and painted red with unique, highly expressive and characteristic designs.A subsequent excavation at Ban Chiang in 1974-1975 was followed by an article by Chester Gorman and Pisit Charoenwongsa, claiming evidence for the earliest dates in the world for bronze casting and iron working. Subsequent excavations, including that at Ban Non Wat, have now shown that the proposed early dates for Ban Chiang are unlikely. The first datings of the artifacts used the thermoluminescence technique, resulting in a range from 4420-3400 BC, which would have made the site the earliest Bronze Age culture in the world. These dates stirred worldwide interest. Thermoluminescence dating of pottery was at the time an experimental technique and had been applied to Ban Chiang sherds of uncertain provenance. However, with the 1974-1975 excavation, sufficient material became available for radiocarbon dating. Re-analysis by radiocarbon dating suggested that a more