Cycladic collared jar ('kandila')

Collared jar with a conical neck, pressed globular body, four pierced vertical lugs, and a conical foot. The collared jar copies in marble a contemporary clay vase-form and is the commonest type of stone vessel in the Early Cycladic I period. Its popular name in Greek, "kandila", is due to its similarity to the hanging icon-lamps (kandilia) in Orthodox Christian churches. Collared jars are voluminous vessels with thick walls. Their manufacture was a hard and demanding job. To save time, craftsmen often did not carve the whole of the interior but removed only a central cylindrical core of marble. This reduced the capacity of the vessel and increased its weight. The lugs, pierced horizontally, were most probably made for the suspension or transport of these heavy vases.