Lot 33: Nikiforos Lytras Greek, 1832-1904 , pomegranates

signed u.l. oil on panel

41.5 by 32.5cm., 16 1/4 by 12 3/4 in.

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY, ATHENS
Still lifes by Lytras are rare and the present work is a wonderful example executed with meticoulous attention to detail that attains a high degree of verisimilitude. Discussing the importance and scarcity of Lytras' still lifes, Marina Lambraki?Plaka comments ?Infrequent and prized are the still lifes of Nikephoros Lytras." (Marina Lambraki-Plaka, National Gallery 100 Years, Four Centuries of Greek Painting , Athens, 1999, p. 342). Representing fertility, abundance and marriage, it is probable that Lytras chose to depict pomegranates for their inherent symbolic meaning. On important days in the Greek Orthodox calendar, such as the presentation of the Virgin Mary or on Christmas Day, it is traditional to have at the dinner table polysporia , also known by their ancient name "panspermia" in some regions of Greece. In ancient times they were offered to Demeter and to the other gods for fertile land, for the spirits of the dead and in honour of compassionate Dionysus. Pomegranates are also prominent at Greek weddings and funerals. It is traditional in Greece to break a pomegranate on the ground at weddings and on New Years, and to bring a pomegranate as a house warming gift, when it is placed under or near the ikonostasi (home altar) of the house as a symbol of abundance, fertility and good luck. Lytras incorporated the motif of the pomegranet into his genre painting The Gift (fig. 1). The reverse of the present work Fig. 1: Nikiforos Lytras, The Gift , Private Collection, Greece An image of a young woman is painted on the reverse (see fig. 1).