Apulian Pottery - Red-Figure Ware: Calyx Krater
Inv. No.: 90.001
Provenance: Apulia
Date: third quarter of 4th century BC
Height: 280mm
Diameter: 260mm
This roughly decorated calyx crater has a body shaped like a bell with a low, rounded belly that curves down to a short, narrow stem. There is a moulded ridge between the body and the foot which is a thick disc with a flaring upper surface and a convex profile. The mouth is also flaring and there is a down-turned rim. The high, vertical handles are rounded in cross section. They pass up from the belly and curve inwards at the top. The vase is painted black, rather carelessly in places, inside and outside except for the red-figure and floral decoration and the following reserved areas: a ring near the top of the neck on the inside of the vase, the fillet between the body and foot, and most of the edge of the foot. There is some black on the latter area, however, and the rest is a buff colour or perhaps is covered with a white wash. A red wash and added white and yellow are used on the decorations. The main scenes have a funerary theme. The vase is in good condition, although the surface is worn in many places.
Function:
A container for the mixing of wine and water; the funerary decoration suggests that this vase was used for funerary purposes.
Manufacture:
A wheel-thrown and turned vase with handles that have been shaped by hand.
Decoration:
- Beneath the rim is a red laurel pattern, outlined carelessly in black and placed between reserved lines.
- Side A: two palmette plants frame a central white naiskos. Inside the naiskos hang a strigil and an alabastron, suggesting that this is the tomb of an athlete.
- A band of rough rosettes with three dot infills is placed between reserved lines and forms a ground line for the naiskos scene. The rosettes have red petals with white outer edges and white dots and a yellow centre.
- Side B: the scene on this side shows Eros in the centre with a three-quarter body facing right while his head is in profile, looking left. His wears a red band in his black hair which is tied back. White is used for wing details and pale white for his jewellery: a bead diadem, earring, necklace, baldric, a chain on his right thigh, a double bracelet on his left wrist and a double anklet around his right ankle. A bunch of white/yellow grapes hangs down from his right hand and with his left hand he holds out a box over an altar. The altar is red with a white outline on the left side and the top. Upright plant sprays stand on the ground line on either side of the stele and there is a phiale in the field above it. A fillet hangs in the field on the top right and there is a rosette in the field on the left, behind the wings of Eros. White is used for details of the offerings and the plants. The rosette has red petals with white outer edges and white dots and an open yellow circle in the centre.
- Beneath the scene there is a rosette band, similar to that on Side A.
Painter:
Attributed to the Chevron group, workshop of the Darius Painter.
Bibliography:
Fortuna Antikenkatalog, 11 (1987), No. 19.
Trendall, A. D., Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily: a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1989, 83-93.
Trendall, A. D. and A. Cambitoglou, First Supplement to the Red-Figured Vases of Apulia, University of London, Institute of Classical Studies Bulletin Supplement No. 42, 1983, 112-116.
Trendall, A. D. and A. Cambitoglou, The Red-Figured Vases of Apulia, Oxford, Clarendon, 1982, II, 650-670.
Comparanda:
Romanelli, P., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Italia 6, Lecce 2 (1979), IV Dr, Tavola 27, 12 (Eros on a Campanian bell crater).
Trendall, A. D., Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily: a Handbook, London, Thames and Hudson, 1989, Fig. 206 (more careful vase with a similar shape and floral decorations by the Darius Painter).
Trendall, A. D. and A. Cambitoglou, The Red-Figured Vases of Apulia, Oxford, Clarendon, 1982, II, Plate 244, 5 (similar to Side B; bell crater belonging to the Chevron Group).