Very Large Greek Apulian Bell Krater - Satyr & Maenad

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Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic

By Artemis Gallery

Feb 21, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-02-21 10:00:00 2019-02-21 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-asian-ethnographic-3858
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• Lot Description
  Magna Graecia, South Italy, Apulian, ca. 325 to 300 BCE. A sizeable bell krater painted with a rich red-figure iconographic program. Side A depicts a muscular satyr, nude with a flowing tail and fancy headdress, holding a situla with a floral garland and thyrsus in his left hand, which is extended toward a maenad who appears to back away, and a lit torch in his right hand. The maenad is elegantly dressed in a chiton and himation with delineated drapery folds flowing over her figure, pairs of bracelets on each wrist, sandals, and a radiate stephane in her upswept coiffure. Her body is depicted in composite profile with raised hands, a ribbon-adorned tympanum in her raised left hand, all the while coyly leaning away from the satyr's romantic pursuit. Additional floral tendrils and leaves embellish the scene. Added/fugitive white and yellow pigments embellish the details. Side B features a pair of draped male figures standing in profile, one holding a walking stick, with an altar between them and a diptych above. Size: 15.375" W x 14.75" H (39.1 cm x 37.5 cm)
  
  A diptych was a folding writing tablet, into whose waxed surface one wrote with a stylus, the pointed object secured by string. These were intended for school boys and were a sign of their youth. 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).
  
  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 East Coast, USA collection; ex-Rohrer Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California, USA, acquired in 2007; ex-Walter Knox, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2005; ex-Harvey and Lori Sarner, Palm Springs, California, USA, 1981; ex Harmer Rooke Gallery, New York, before 1981
  
  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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  #141444

  Condition

  Repaired from multiple pieces with restoration over the break lines. Although repairs are visible, the iconographic/decorative program is still vivid.
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