Kandilai

A Cycladic vessel featuring a globe-shaped body, tall neck, pedestal foot, and four pierced lugs on the body. The pierced lugs would have held cords for securing a lid to the vessel. Kandilai take their name from their resemblance to modern Greek church lamps; they would have been used to hold liquids such as oil or wine. The kandila form was very common, made in both marble and clay and in a wide range of sizes. The gradual elimination of a foot or base may represent a step in the transition from the kandila to the spherical pyxis form that later became popular.