Apulian Pottery - Red-Figure Ware: Fish Plate

Inv. No.: 82.034
Provenance: Apulia
Date: 4th century BC
Height: 60mm
Diameter: 223mm
 
This Apulian plate, decorated with three large fish and a smaller fish plus shell fish, is attributed to the Perrone-Phrixos group of fish plates. The inclusion of smaller sea creatures between the larger fish is characteristic of Apulian fish plates, creating a highly decorative effect. There is a gently sloping floor and a central circular depression with a painted rosette, another Apulian characteristic. The rim (decorated with a floral pattern) is turned down and the plate is set on a hollow foot that has a short stem and a ring base. The outside of the plate is mainly black with reserved areas on the edges of the rim and around the central depression. The decoration is reserved with details painted using added white plus some black. Added red is used to enhance the colour of the reserved areas. The underneath of the plate is reserved except for black painted on the underside of the floor, around the edge of the ring base and inside the hollow foot. The vase is in very good condition.

Function:
A plate used for serving fish; the central depressed area collected juices from the fish and perhaps contained a sauce. The plate could also be used as a funerary offering.

Manufacture:
A wheel-made vase with a rim that has been turned down, and a thrown and turned foot.

Decoration:

1. The black floor of the plate is decorated with a profile dolphin whose back is arched, following the curve of the rim, another fish in profile (perhaps an ombrina) with belly facing the centre, and an angler-fish or lophius with an open mouth, seen from above. Dotted around on the rest of the field are a smaller profile fish, two scallops, possibly a prawn, a starfish (?) and a shell. The sea creatures are orange with added white and some black used for details.
2. The central depressed area is surrounded by an orange ring and inside it is a rosette with a white centre and eight orange petals, tipped with white and decorated with white dots.
3. The edges of the rim are orange and on the side is a laurel pattern with pairs of orange-coloured leaves and white berries.
4. The underside of the floor is black while the overhanging rim is reserved underneath. The stem is reserved with a moulded ring near its top. The edge of the base is painted black, the bottom is reserved and there is a wide black band inside the hollow foot.

Bibliography:
Fine Antiquities, Christie's Catalogue, 2 July 1982, No. 203.

McPhee, I. and A. D. Trendall, Greek Red-figured Fish-plates, Basel, Vereinigung der Freunde antiker Kunst, 1987, No. 82, Plate 50b; see 124-127.

Comparanda:
McPhee, I. and A. D. Trendall, Greek Red-figured Fish-plates, Basel, Vereinigung der Freunde antiker Kunst, 1987, Plates 45, c, 49, c (similar vases); Plates 45, f, 49, b (similar central rosettes); Plate 48, b and c (plates with similar angler-fish and dolphins).

Trendall, A. D., Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily: a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1989, Fig. 207 (plate from the Phrixos Group with similar angler-fish and dolphin).