Apulian Pottery - Gnathia Ware: Kantharos
Inv. No.: 82.023
Provenance: Apulia
Date: c. 320 BC
Height: 150mm
Diameter: 135 mm (with handles)
An elegant kantharos with a tall lip of cylindrical shape with concave sides, a low, rounded bowl and a carination at the join of lip and bowl. The top of the lip flares and has a beveled edge. The cup is set on a high foot with a moulded ring around the middle of the stem and another moulding where the stem meets the bowl. The foot ends in a flat disc that has a slightly flaring profile and two deep grooves. The high strap handles curve up from where the lip joins the bowl and meet the top of the lip at an angle. The cup is painted dull black with floral and geometric patterns painted in white, yellow and red over the black. There are some small chips and abrasions, but overall the cup is in good condition.
Function:
A drinking cup.
Manufacture:
A wheel-made vase with hand-made handles.
Decoration:
- Side A: there are two incised lines below the lip. Beneath these is the following sequence: a dotted white/yellow ovolo pattern with incised outlines, double incised lines, and a row of yellow dots.
- Around the centre of the body is a band of vine pattern. There are leaves (left half white and right half yellow) and white tendrils to either side of a central red stem. Bunches of grapes hang below the stem: two red bunches frame a central white/yellow bunch.
- Around the bottom of the body, above the carination, is a white dotted ovolo pattern with incised outlines between double incised lines.
- Side B: at the top, beneath the lip, is a white, dotted ovolo pattern with incised outlines between double incised lines plus a line of white dots below.
- The dotted ovolo pattern between double incised lines is repeated around the bottom of the body.
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. , August 1982, V298.
Seaby Coin & Medal Bulletin
Webster, T. B. L., "Towards a Classification of Apulian Gnathia", Institute of Classical Studies Bulletin, 15 (1968), 1-33.
Comparanda:
Moignard, E., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Great Britain 16, Edinburgh 1 (1989), Plate 35, 3-4 (Apulian red-figure vase of comparable shape, but with more elaborate handles).
Wisseman, S. U., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, USA 24, Illinois 1 (1989), Plate 49 (Apulian red-figure vase of comparable shape, but with more elaborate handles), Plate 58, 5 (Gnathia kantharos; different shape, but similar ovolo, dot and vine patterns).