Apulian Sessile Kantharos

An ancient Apulian Greek sessile kantharos of the St. Valentine Class, with four bands of applied red decoration, including meander, chevrons, waves, and ivy leaves and berries.

Apulia, Magna Graecia, South Eastern Italy.
Ca. 350 - 300 BC.
Height 4 5/8 in. (11.8 cm).

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.Xenon ware is a specific type of Apulian pottery, so named after a vase, now in Frankfurt (Beazley, EVP, p. 219,1.) inscribed with the name: XENON. The type is distinguished by added matte red decoration over black glaze (six’s technique), often in floral and geometric designs.The sessile kantharos type is a drinking vessel with two low vertical handles, rather than the high looped handles of the long stemmed kantharoi traditionally used by Dionysos. Sessile kantharoi are embellished with intricate foliate and geometric designs.

Formerly in the collection of Jerome Eisenberg, New York.
Inv#: 8967
Guaranteed Authentic

$3,000

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