Greek Apulian Bell Krater - Maenad and Eros

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Fine Ethnographic / Asian / Ancient Art

By Artemis Gallery

May 10, 2018

Set Reminder 2018-05-10 10:00:00 2018-05-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fine Ethnographic / Asian / Ancient Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/fine-ethnographic-asian-ancient-art-3213
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• Lot Description
  Magna Graecia, South Italy, Apulian, ca. mid 4th century BCE. A lovely, sizeable bell krater painted with a rich red-figure iconographic program. On Side A is a muscular young man, Eros, the Greek god of love (his Roman counterpart being Cupid) looking over his shoulder toward the right, holding a mirror in his upraised right hand and a casket in his also-upraised left. To the right is a draped maenad holding a thyrsus in her right hand and a large situla in her left. Side B features a pair of draped male figures standing in profile, one holding a walking stick. Above is a casket. In classic Apulian style, dots of white and yellow paint provide nice details to the scene with the Maenad and Eros. In addition to this iconography, the vessel is adorned by extensive decorative program: stylized palmettes below the handles with fretted bands surrounding each handle's termini, and a lower register underscoring the figural scene comprised of Greek key (meander). Size: 12.25" W x 11" H (31.1 cm x 27.9 cm)
  
  Perhaps the most exciting innovation in Greek vase painting was the red-figure technique, invented in Athens around 525 BCE and beloved by other artists of Magna Graecia. The red-figure technique allowed for much greater flexibility as opposed to the black-figure technique, for now the artist could use a soft, pliable brush rather than a rigid metal graver to delineate interior details, play with the thickness of the lines, as well as build up or dilute glazes to create chromatic effects. The painter would create figures by outlining them in the natural red of the vase, and then enrich these figural forms with black lines to suggest volume, at times perspectival depth, and movement, bringing those silhouettes and their environs to life. Beyond this, fugitive pigments made it possible for the artist to create additional layers of interest and detail as we see in this example.
  
  Provenance: private Davis collection, Houston, Texas, USA
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
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  #132967

  Condition

  Repaired from approximately eight large pieces, with very light restoration over the repair lines, but almost entirely original pigment. Most repairs on the rim, foot, and handles. Beautiful silvery patina on the black pigment.
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