Magna Graecia, southern Italy, near present day Ignazia, ca. 340 to 320 BCE. An attractive blackware pottery pitcher with trefoil spout decorated in the Gnathian technique with fugitive red, white, and yellow pigments - depicting an attractive grapevine pattern along with ovolo and red and white striated and wavy bands. Painted along its lower body is a scene of Eros - depicted here with both male and female features, a fairly common South Italic style - chasing a swan or goose around the rim. Eros was a popular figure on southern Italic funerary vessels, perhaps indicating the love the family had for the deceased. Size: 4.75" W x 9.45" H (12.1 cm x 24 cm)
Gnathia ware is named for the site where it was first discovered - the Apulian site of Egnathia. The black glaze ware is traditionally decorated with floral motifs in red, white, and/or yellow hues. Scholars believe that its production most likely was centered around Taras, with primary workshops in Egnathia and Canosa. The quantity and quality of Greek colonial Apulian potters increased significantly following the Peloponnesian War when Attic exports dramatically decreased. Apulian artistry demonstrates influences of Ionian (Athenian, Attic) conventions, as well as Doric (western colonial Greek) styles, with a palpable native Italian aesthetic.
Provenance: private Alabama, USA collection; ex-Roy Green collection
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.
#148747
Condition
Repaired and restored from multiple pieces. This is well done and difficult to see, with very limited overpainting along the repair lines. Light deposits on surface. Great preservation of motifs.