Magna Graecia, South Italy, Apulian, ca. 350 BCE. A ceramic fish plate of a classic pinax or pinakion (meaning tablet for its shape) form with three fish finely painted via the red-figure technique with added fugitive white and yellow details, the trio swimming around a central garum (fish sauce) recess decorated with rays, the perimeter of the downturned rim adorned with a lovely berried laurel leaf garland, the dimpled disk form elevated on a raised pedestal. Size: 8.375" in diameter x 2.25" H (21.3 cm x 5.7 cm); 8.5" H (21.6 cm) on included custom stand.
Fish plates were initially produced in Athens during the late fifth century BCE. Attic examples were characterized by fish with bellies oriented towards the outside rim of the plate. While in Athens the palette was limited to a red clay fabric and black gloss slip with only rare uses of white overpainting, later examples from Greek settlers in Southern Italy (Taranto, Paestum, Capua, and Cumae) like this example were more colorful with added white and yellow pigments. The South Italian fish plates also departed from Attic examples in that they were characterized by decoration in which the fish's bellies were oriented inwards towards the sauce cup at the center of the plate, as we see in this example.
Provenance: private J.H. collection, Beaverton, Oregon, USA
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#149676
Condition
Professionally repaired from 2 to 4 pieces with restoration over the break lines. Nicks to the rim. Normal surface wear with scuffs and a few minor surface nicks commensurate with age; however, the painted imagery is still strong. The black glaze has developed a silvery iridescence. Mineral and earthen deposits grace the surface.