Apulian Pottery - Gnathia Ware: Cup
Inv. No.: 69.003
Provenance: Apulia
Date: third quarter of 4th century BC
Height: 56mm
Diameter: 105mm
This elegant cup has a low, rounded bowl set on a foot which is in two degrees. The upper section of the foot is slightly flaring in profile while the lower section has a central groove. The handles are set below the rim at a slight angle. They are rounded in cross section and the ends are bent upwards and inwards. The vase is black inside and outside with a reserved band on the lower part of the bowl and on the upper part of the foot. The outside of the lower part of the foot is painted black. The bowl is decorated with typical late Early Gnathian style floral and geometric patterns painted in white and yellow over the black. The decoration on Side A is more ornate than that on Side B. The vase is in good condition with the black worn away from a large section of one handle.
Function:
A drinking cup.
Manufacture:
A wheel-made vase with handles that have been shaped by hand.
Decoration:
- Side A: around the rim is a band of dotted ovolo pattern in white between incised lines that have been painted yellow. The incised outlines are also painted yellow and some of the white has worn away. Below is another incised line, painted yellow.
- Suspended from this line in the centre of this side of the vase is a vertical line of white dots ending in a faded yellow/white tangled ribbon. On either side is an arrangement of two oblique ivy sprays in white with a central yellow rib (type Kg). These converge towards the lower part of the bowl and frame a yellow/white rosette. At the top, beneath the yellow line and between the ivy sprays, there are large yellow dots with three small white dots arranged in a triangular pattern below them.
- Side B: below the rim is a band of ivy leaves on either side of two horizontal parallel lines.
Bibliography:
Green, J. R., "Gnathia Addenda", Institute of Classical Studies Bulletin, 18 (1971), 30-38.
Green, J. R., Gnathia Pottery in the Akademisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, Mainz, Verlag Philipp Von Zabern, 1976.
Green, J. R., "Some Painters of Gnathia Vases", Institute of Classical Studies Bulletin, 15 (1968), 34-50.
Green, J. R., "The Gnathia Pottery of Apulia", The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia, eds. M. E. Mayo and K. Hamma, Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1982, 252-259.
Kanowski, M.G., The Antiquities Collection, catalogue, Department of Classics and Ancient History, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 1978, 15.
Webster, T. B. L., "Towards a Classification of Apulian Gnathia", Institute of Classical Studies Bulletin, 15 (1968), 1-33.
Comparanda:
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Italia 34, Verona 1 (undated), IV, D, Tavola 20, 2 a and b (similar decoration; more rounded shape).
Rocco, A., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Italia 24, Napoli 3 (undated), IV, E, Tavola 63, 2 (comparable decoration, rounder shape).
Schmidt, M., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Deutschland 23, Heidelberg 2 (1963), Tafel 87, 1-2 (more rounded version).