An ancient Apulian Greek black glazed guttus, a vessel for pouring oil into a lamp, with a loop handle and spout. The central disk is molded with a youthful head of Herakles in three-quarter profile.
The output and quality of the Greek colonial potters working in Southern Italy increased greatly following the Peloponnesian War when Attic exports fell off sharply. South Italian Colonial Greek craftsmanship of the 4th century BC was an amalgamation of the Ionian (Athenian, Attic) conventions, and Doric (western colonial Greek) styles, with a noticeable native Italian aesthetic. The five predominant regional schools of South Italian pottery were: Apulian, Sicilian, Lucanian, Paestan, and Campanian.
$2,000