Campanian Pottery - Red-Figure Ware: Neck Amphora

Inv. No.: 76.003
Provenance: Campania
Date: 350-325 BC
Height: 550mm
Diameter: 175mm
 
Gift of Dr Stanley Castlehow.

The neck amphora is a common Campanian vase shape and the subject matter of the main scene on this vase (a woman offering a libation to a warrior) is frequently found on vases belonging to the AV Group, in particular vases attributed to the Libation Painter. This vase has a slender ovoid body, a narrow shoulder and a cylindrical neck with a slightly concave profile. The mouth is in two degrees with a stepped bottom section and a flaring upper part with an overhanging rim and a flat top. In profile, the rim is grooved at the top and flaring below. The foot has a high flaring stem and a disc base that is grooved on its outer edge. There is a groove between the stem and the body. The upright handles are round in cross section; they pass from the top of the neck to the shoulder. The vase is mainly dull black except for the red-figure floral decorations and the figures (both heightened with added white) plus black-figure geometric patterns on reserved bands. The following areas are reserved: the undersurface of the mouth, the top of the rim, the interior below a black band around the inside of the mouth, the undersides of the handles and the neck beneath the handles, the groove between the body and stem and the edge of the disc base of the foot. The clay is pale orange with some added wash. One handle has been repaired; there is some wear and white incrustation on the foot.

Function:
Amphorae were used as containers for wine and oil and also for funerary purposes.

Manufacture:
A wheel-thrown and turned vase with hand-made handles.

Decoration:

1. The exterior of the rim is decorated with a band of vertical black stripes between black lines.
2. Side A: on the neck is a profile draped youth facing left, on a black panel framed by vertical reserved bands decorated with black spots. To the left of his head is a window, to the right a ball. On the ground line, to the right, is part of a palmette plant.
3. The shoulder is decorated with a band of red laurel pattern with white berries between reserved lines.
4. The main scene on the body is a depiction of a standing profile woman with white flesh, facing right. She wears a local costume (a cape over a peplos and a head scarf, all painted in white with red details) often found in libation scenes. With her right hand, she holds out a skyphos to a mounted warrior who also wears local (Oscan) dress (a helmet with three plumes and a short tunic, both white). Horse and rider are shown in profile, facing left. In his left hand the warrior holds a lance with a white fillet hanging from its end and a white shield. He also wears an armband on his left wrist. There are three black stripes on his left ankle and also across his left hip. Below the horse is a volcanic rock (breccia), red with black spots. Between the heads of the woman and the horse, hanging in the field, is a white phiale. A pattern of vertical black stripes between black lines on a reserved band forms the ground line. This continues around the vase.
5. Side B: on the neck is an upright red palmette with some added white, on a black panel.
6. The shoulder is decorated with a red laurel pattern on a black band between reserved lines.
7. On the body are two profile standing youths wearing himatia and facing each other. The figure on the right holds up a garland in his right hand while the one on the left leans on a white (very worn) stick held in his right hand. There is a window in the field at top left, behind this figure. Scanty white is used for details on the window, garland, heads and a bracelet on the right wrist of the figure on the right. On each side, between the figure scenes and below the handles, are red plus added white floral patterns with palmettes and scrolls.

Painter:
Attributed to the Libation Painter (AV Group).

Bibliography:
Antiquities, Christie Catalogue, 27 April 1976, No. 202.

Kanowski, M.G., The Antiquities Collection, catalogue, Department of Classics and Ancient History, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 1978, 6-7.

Trendall, A. D., Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily: a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1989, 13 (rocks), 164-167 (painter and group).

Trendall, A. D., The Red-figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and Sicily, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1967, I, 358 (subject), 398-411 (painter and group).

Trendall, A. D., The Red-figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and Sicily: First Supplement, University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin Supplement No. 26, 1970, 73.

Trendall, A. D., The Red-figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and Sicily: Second Supplement, University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin Supplement No. 31, 1973, 220-223.

Comparanda:
Deppert, K., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Deutschland 50, Frankfurt am Main 3 (1982), Tafel 25, 1-3.

Jentoft-Nilsen, M. (and A. D. Trendall), Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, USA 27, The J. Paul Getty Museum 4 (1991), Plate 221, 1-4 (shape).

Smith, A. H. and F. N. Pryce, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Great Britain 2, British Museum 2 (1926), IV E a, Plate 9, 9 a and b (shape and subject).

Trendall, A. D., Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily: a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1989, Fig. 302 (shape), Figs. 300 and 301 (dress and subject).

Trendall, A. D., The Red-figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and Sicily, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1967, II, Plate 158, 1, Plate 162, 2-3 (shape and Side B).

Trendall, A. D., The Red-figured Vases of Lucania, Campania and Sicily: Second Supplement, University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin Supplement No. 31, 1973, Plate XXXVIII, 2 (Side A).