An ancient Apulian Greek Xenon ware sessile kantharos with lateral handles, and painted scroll bands, palmettes and laurel on the body in applied red.
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.
$3,000
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