Lot 32D
Magna Graecia, South Italy, Apulian, ca. mid 4th century BCE. A lovely, sizeable bell krater painted with a rich iconographic program created via the red-figure technique. On Side A is a winged Eros, the Greek god of love (his Roman counterpart being Cupid) walking toward the right, holding a situla in his left hand and a mirror in his upraised right hand. To the left is a draped maenad holding a thyrsus in her right hand and a ribboned tambour in her left. Side B features a pair of draped male figures standing in profile and flanking an altar, each one holding a walking stick. Above is a casket. Size: 12.5" in diameter at the rim x 10.75" H (31.8 cm x 27.3 cm)
In addition to this iconography, the vessel is adorned by extensive decorative program; a laurel leaf wreath beneath the rim, stylized palmettes below the handles with fretted bands surrounding each handle's termini, and a lower register underscoring the figural scene comprised of Greek key (meander), with four dotted checkerboard panels and one panel inscribed with an "X" surrounded by triangles.
Perhaps the most exciting innovation in Greek vase painting was the red-figure technique, invented in Athens around 525 BCE and beloved by other artists of Magna Graecia. The red-figure technique allowed for much greater flexibility as opposed to the black-figure technique, for now the artist could use a soft, pliable brush rather than a rigid metal graver to delineate interior details, play with the thickness of the lines, as well as build up or dilute glazes to create chromatic effects. The painter would create figures by outlining them in the natural red of the vase, and then enrich these figural forms with black lines to suggest volume, at times perspectival depth, and movement, bringing those silhouettes and their environs to life. Beyond this, fugitive pigments made it possible for the artist to create additional layers of interest and detail as we see in this example.
Provenance: private Davis Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
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#132890
- Condition: Body repaired from multiple pieces with areas of restoration over the break lines. Handles repaired. Normal surface wear with areas of pigment loss. Some areas encrustation and mineral deposits.
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