Greek Apulian Red-Figure Epichysis w/ Maenad

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Antiquities | Asian | Ethnographic Art

By Artemis Gallery

Sep 10, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-09-10 10:00:00 2020-09-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Antiquities | Asian | Ethnographic Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/antiquities-asian-ethnographic-art-5546
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• Lot Description
  Magna Graecia, Southern Italy, Apulian, ca. 330 BCE. A very fine pottery pouring vessel known as an epichysis, possessing a characteristically spool-shaped base with a curved low body leading to a tubular neck and a slender beaked spout joined to the shoulder by a high, raised handle, with applied matching maskettes adorning the areas where the upper handle end meets the spout. The piece is decorated via the red-figure technique - featuring a lovely female figure - perhaps a maenad, draped in a flowing chiton and bedecked with a beaded necklace, drop earrings, bracelets, and a kekryphalos adorning her upraised coiffure. She is presented in a seated pose, in composite profile with legs extended before her, holding a tympanum in each hand. Composite palmettes adorn the lower handle and extend to each side of the vessel body. A band of running egg-and-dart motifs decorates the shoulder, and a garland of laurel leaves embellishes the spool. Size: 3.5" in diameter x 6.375" H (8.9 cm x 16.2 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 Orange County, California, USA collection acquired before 2000
  
  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.
  
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  #156627

  Condition

  Chips to egg-and-dart section of spool base. Minor crazing to black glaze around the maskettes. Otherwise this piece is fabulous with a vivid red-figure program!
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