Attic Pottery - Red-Figure Ware: Kantharos (Saint-Valentin Class, Group IV)
Inv. No.: 74.005
Provenance: Attica
Date: 450-425 BC
Height: 114mm
Diameter: 119mm
A cylindrical cup with a tall, flaring lip that meets the low, rounded bowl at an angle. The bowl is set on a disc foot with a torus profile. This means that this is a sessile or stemless kantharos. The flat strap handles curve from the top of the lip to the junction of lip and bowl. The interior is shiny black and the exterior is black except for reserved red panels on each side of the vase and a relief line towards the base. The panels are decorated with bands of geometric and floral patterns painted with black and added white. The name "Saint-Valentin class" comes from the place where a similarly decorated kantharos was found. The class has been divided by Seymour Howard and F. P. Johnson into a number of different groups on the basis of the patterns used. This vase belongs to Group IV which has the largest number of vases, probably produced by one individual. It is in good condition with some restoration of the white.
Function:
A drinking cup.
Manufacture:
A wheel-thrown vase with a turned foot. The handles were made by hand and attached with slip.
Decoration:
- The reserved panels are decorated with a band of black tongues and dots at the top of the lip followed by a double row of black lozenges that have an inner white outline and a central white dot. These alternate with red lozenges. The remains of dilute slip outlines can be seen in the red areas. The band of lozenges is set between pairs of double black lines. Next is a black band with pairs of white laurel leaves alternating with pairs of white berries placed horizontally on the vase, and, at the bottom of the panels below the level of the handles, there is another band of black tongues and dots set between double black lines.
- There is a narrow reserved band towards the bottom of the vase.
- The underside of the foot is reserved and decorated with a thin black ring towards the outer edge and a smaller black ring with central black dot in the middle.
Bibliography:
Beazley, J. D., Attic Red-Figure Vase-Painters, second edition, Oxford, Clarendon, 1963, 984-5 (plus further bibliography).
Beazley, J. D., Etruscan Vase-Painting, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1947, n. 1, p. 219.
Howard, S. and F. P. Johnson, "The Saint-Valentin Vases", American Journal of Archaeology, 58, No. 3 (July 1954), 191-207.
Comparanda:
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Italia 23, Capua 2 (undated), III I, Tavola 15, 12.
Howard, S. and F. P. Johnson, "The Saint-Valentin Vases", American Journal of Archaeology, 58, No. 3 (July 1954), Plate 32, Fig. 6, Plate 33, Fig. 10.
Kanowski, M.G., The Antiquities Collection, catalogue, Department of Classics and Ancient History, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 1978, 21.
Walters, H. B., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Great Britain 5, British Museum 4 (1929), III I c, Plate 32, 16.