Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Collector · Heir · Consul / diplomat

George Giabra Pierides

d. 2003 · Cyprus

Consul-General of Norway who moved the Giabra branch of the Pierides collection, rich in Mycenaean pictorial vases, from Larnaca to Nicosia, where Karageorghis published it from 1960.

Biography

George Giabra Pierides held the Mycenaean vases that his father, Djabra Pierides, had inherited from the founder of the Larnaca collection. Karageorghis wrote in 1973 that these vases "are now in Nicosia, in the possession of his son, George Giabra Pierides, Consul General for Norway"2. The 1985 Pierides Foundation catalogue also records him as Consul-General of Norway1.

In 1965 Vassos Karageorghis published the collection in the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum as one of the two largest private collections in Cyprus, now transferred to Nicosia and rich in large pictorial-style Mycenaean craters and amphorae3. Its Mycenaean vases had already appeared in journals. In 1960 and 1964 Karageorghis had published from it a Marion scarab of Theseus and the Minotaur and two Bichrome IV vases, a jug with seven women and birds and a dinos with fighting bulls, describing the collection as formed at Larnaca in the last century4,5. In 1987 he reported an Aegean lentoid seal that had been in it since the end of the 19th century, seen once the collection had been registered6.

Life and work

  1. 1928
    Inherited the Giabra branch of the Pierides collection (the Mycenaean pottery) from his father Giabra (1852-1928); the 1973 and 1985 texts say the Mycenaean vases 'are now in Nicosia, in the possession of his son, George Giabra Pierides'. The year follows Giabra's death and is not stated by the sources.

    Karageorghis 1973Karageorghis et al. 1985, p. 13

  2. 1960
    Karageorghis publishes a Marion scarab (Theseus killing the Minotaur) now in the 'collection G. G. Pierides, Nicosie'; the scarab had been published by G. D. Pierides in JHS 16 (1896) p. 272.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 1961

  3. 1964
    Two figured Iron Age vases (a Bichrome IV jug with seven women and birds, and a Bichrome IV dinos with fighting bulls) published from the 'Collection George Giabra Pierides, à Nicosie', described as 'formed at Larnaca in the last century' and 'already known to specialists above all for its important series of Mycenaean vases'.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 1965

  4. 1965
    CVA Cyprus 2 (April 1965), section I (plates 1-14): George Giabra Pierides's collection, 'transferred to Nicosia' from Larnaca, rich in large pictorial-style Mycenaean craters and amphorae; the two bell-craters with bulls (pls. 4-5) ranked among the best 13th-century pictorial vase-painting. Its Mycenaean vases had earlier been published by Karageorghis in journals.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 1965

  5. 1987
    Aegean lentoid seal (lion attacking bull), in the collection 'since the end of the 19th century', mentioned by Karageorghis, who saw it 'only when the collection had been registered'; Ingo Pini commented on a photograph.

    NicosiaKarageorghis 1988

Connections

8 people
Djabra (Gabriel) PieridesClio TriantafyllidesNefeli Giabra PieridesVassos KarageorghisMarkus EgetmeyerParvine H. MerrilleesDemetrios PieridesIngo PiniGeorge Giabra Pierides
FamilyScholarshipColleagues

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Objects

  • Marion scarab: Theseus killing the Minotaur

    From MarionGeorge and Nefeli Giabra Pierides collection (private in 1960; now BoCCF, Nicosia)by 1896Karageorghis 1961

  • Bichrome IV jug with frieze of seven women, birds and lotus (and a Bichrome IV dinos with bulls)

    G. G. Pierides collection, Nicosiaby 1964Karageorghis 1965

  • Mycenaean three-handled jar, 'G.G. Pierides Collection no. 27' (Graziadio cat. 80), unknown provenance

    Museum of the George and Nefeli Giabra Pierides Collection, Nicosia G.G. Pierides no. 27Graziadio

  • Aegean lentoid seal, lion attacking bull

    Giabra Pierides collection, Nicosiaby 1900Karageorghis 1988

  • Akkadian agate cylinder seal, said to have been found with Constantinides's jasper seal (reputedly Nicosia Ayia Paraskevi)

    From Nicosia-Ayia Paraskevi (reputed)Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation (George and Nefeli Giabra Pierides collection) Merrillees 2002, cat. 356 (per Egypt and Cyprus conference snippet)Merrillees 2005, p. 16

Sources

  1. 1.V. Karageorghis, F. Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou, D. Papanikola-Bakirtzis, C. Elliott (1985). Ancient Cypriote Art in the Pierides Foundation Museum.
  2. 2.V. Karageorghis (1973). Cypriote Antiquities in the Pierides Collection, Larnaca, Cyprus. Athens, Ekdotiki Hellados.
  3. 3.V. Karageorghis (1965). Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Cyprus 2: Cyprus, Private Collections I. Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.
  4. 4.V. Karageorghis (1961). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1960”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 85.
  5. 5.V. Karageorghis (1965). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1964”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 89.
  6. 6.V. Karageorghis (1988). “Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1987”. Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 112.
  7. 7.Robert Stuart Merrillees (2005). “Towards a fuller history of the Cyprus Museum”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 35, 191-214. Online
  8. 8.Giampaolo Graziadio. The Earliest Production of Aegean-Type Pottery in Cyprus.
  9. 9.V. Karageorghis (2002). Ancient Art from Cyprus in the Collection of George and Nefeli Giabra Pierides. Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
  10. 10. (1997). Minerva: International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology. Aurora Publications. Online