Apulian Pottery - Xenon Ware: Kantharos

Inv. No.: 87.217
Provenance: Apulia
Date: late 4th century BC
Height: 56mm
Diameter: 84 mm (with handles)
 
Cottier Angeli Gift.

A small sessile or stemless kantharos of cylindrical shape with a tall lip that has a slightly concave profile. The rounded base joins smoothly with the lip. The base is set on a small foot that is slightly flaring and grooved. The slightly rounded strap handles pass from just below the rim to the join of lip and body. The vase is painted a dull black inside and outside. It is decorated between the handles with a pattern of chevrons that are painted in orange over the black. This type of overpainted ware is known as Xenon ware; it is an Apulian version of the Attic Saint-Valentin Group of sessile kantharoi. The rim has small chips missing revealing orange clay and the surface is crazed and worn.

Function:
A drinking cup.

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

Decoration:

1. Side A: chevrons pointing left are painted in orange over the black on the lip, between the handles. Beneath the chevrons are two orange horizontal lines.
2. Side B: same pattern as Side A.

Bibliography:
Beazley, J. D., Etruscan Vase-Painting, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1947, 218-221 ("Xenon Group").

Green, J. R., "The Xenon Group", The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia, eds. M. E. Mayo and K. Hamma, Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1982, 291-292.

Robinson, E. G. D., "Between Greek and Native: The Xenon Group", Greek Colonists and Native Populations: Proceedings of the First Australian Congress of Classical Archaeology, ed. J-P. Descdres, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1990, 251-265.

Comparanda:
Hayes, J. W., Greek and Italian Black-Gloss Wares and Related Wares in the Royal Ontario Museum: A Catalogue, Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, 1984, 195 and 196 (larger examples).

Metzger, I. R. et al, Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Schweiz 5, Svizzera 5 (1979), Tafel 13, 4-5.

Pryce, F. N., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Great Britain 10, British Museum 7 (1932), IV E, Plate 4, 2 a and b.

Rocco, A., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Italia 24, Napoli 3 (undated), IV E, Tavola 45, 9 and 11.

Rückert, B., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Deutschland 69, Tübingen 7 (1997), Tafel 30, 1-2.

Wisseman, S. U., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, USA 24, Illinois 1 (1989), Plate 60, 2-3 (similar pattern on Plate 60, 3).