Description:
A pottery skyphos (a wine drinking cup) from the south Italian region of Apulia. The vessel is thin walled and is standing on a low foot, is black-glazed and is decorated in added yellow, white and red. Around the rim is an egg pattern followed by a wavy line between two double lines, and then a dot pattern and a red band. The main decoration consists of alternating ivy garlands and a grape pattern. The back is decorated with two rows of dots with a double line inbetween.
The decoration is typical for pottery which is commonly called Gnathian, after the name of present-day Egnazia (located on the Adriatic coast of Apulia). In the middle of the nineteenth century large quantities of pottery with this type of decoration were found during excavations of the cemeteries of Egnazia (and nearby Fasano). Ever since they were known as the pottery of Egnazia, or Gnathia pottery, even though little of it was in fact made at Egnazia.
Literature:
J. Richard Green, "Gnathia and Other Overpainted Wares of Italy and Sicily: a Survey", in Évelyne Geny (ed., sous la direction de Pierre Lévêque et Jean-Paul Morel), Céramiques Hellénistiques et Romaines III (Besançon, Presses Universitaires Franc-Comtoises, 2001), 57-103; J. Richard Green, "The Gnathia Pottery of Apulia", in: Margaret Ellen Mayo - Kenneth Hamma (eds.), The Art of South Italy. Vases from Magna Graecia (Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1982), p. 252-258.
Dating:
Circa 4th - 3rd century B.C.
Size:
Height 9.2 cm., width including handles 13.3 cm.
Provenance:
Dutch private collection, acquired on 18 August 2007; before US collection of Dr. Geoff Smith, inherited from his father, who purchased it in the 1970-1980s.
Condition:
Professionally repaired from a few large pieces, with a slightly darker overpainting over the break lines, mainly visible on the inside, on the outside this is inapparent; the repair was so well done that even under magnification it is sometimes difficult to see where the pieces were rejoined; a few small, expected scratches; minimal roughness on the rim.
SOLD
Stock number:
C2108