A bronze strigil with a wide folded handle, undecorated apart from simple incised line details on the handle and the back of the blade. Supplied with a simple stand.
 
Ancient Greek: Circa 5th-4th century BC.
 
Fine condition generally: Professionally conserved and repaired with areas of restoration on the blade and the back of the handle.
Diagonal length 23.5 cms (9.25 ins).
 
Provenance: Formerly in the Kuizenga collection, The Netherlands; collection formed from the 1970's onwards.
 
For a very similar example in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, please see: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248881
 
The strigil was used for skin care in the Greek and Roman world; olive oil would be applied to the skin as a form of soap and the strigil blade would be used to scrape the oil from the surface of the body. Numerous Greek vase paintings depict athletes preparing for contest by applying oils and then removing them with a strigil.