Greek Paestan Pottery Squat Lekythos w/ Siren

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VARIETY SALE | Antiquities & Ethnographic Art...

By Artemis Gallery

Aug 27, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-08-27 10:00:00 2020-08-27 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : VARIETY SALE | Antiquities & Ethnographic Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/variety-sale-antiquities-ethnographic-art-5477
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• Lot Description
  Magna Graecia, South Italy, Paestan, ca. 4th century BCE. A wonderful Paestan squat lekythos, finely decorated via the red-figure technique. The vessel body is graced with a siren presenting with a female head and breasts - her visage comprised of delicate features and adorned with a beaded diadem, drop earring, and necklace - and the body of a bird with elaborately detailed plumage in black as well as fugitive white pigmentation, reminiscent of the patterning of a starling. On the other side of the vessel body, beneath the strap handle, is a large palmette, and elegant frets adorn the lower neck. Size: 3.4" W x 6.875" H (8.6 cm x 17.5 cm)
  
  The Paestan technique is one of five red-figure variations that developed in Magna Graecia inspired by pottery that had been made in Athens since the later 6th century BCE and was admired by the Greek colonists of South Italy and Sicily. The beginning of red-figure painting in Sicily is still being sorted out by scholars; however, the high point of production of Paestan vase painting occurred from 360 to 310 BCE. According to expert Ian McPhee, Paestan vases are "painted with scenes involving mythical or divine figures or those drawn from everyday life using the red-figure technique in which the figures and floral are reserved in the typically orange clay and the background is covered with a thin clay slip that fires black. These vases were not made for export but for local needs and are, with few exceptions, found only at Paestum and at neighboring sites within a relatively restricted area. The fired clay of Paestan vases is usually quite distinctive: it often has a rich orange color, though at times this is muted to a light brown, and normally it is full of shiny specks of mica." (Ian McPhee, "A Paestan Vase by Python: In memory of Dale Trendall," Art Journal 46, National Gallery of Victoria, 2006.)
  
  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 pigment to suggest volume, details, 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.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #156848

  Condition

  Minor nicks and encrustations to base, body, handle, and spout, with light fading to some glazed areas, otherwise intact and excellent. Nice silvery iridescence across some glazed areas.
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