Very Large Messapian Kantharos, Attributed as Bichrome Matt-Painted Decoration, South Italy, c. 450-425 B.C.

(Messapian Nestoris)

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Item No.
34.37357
Culture
Messapian, South Italy, c. 450-425 B.C. 
Item Details.
Buff clay with a pale slipped surface, painted in matt orange-red and dark brown. Depressed globular body on a low moulded foot with a spreading disc, short concave neck rising to a broad everted rim with a flat upper face, and two high-swung vertical handles of rounded section, attached at the rim and descending to the upper body.

The rim carries alternating oblique strokes. Both handles are coated in solid orange-red, as is the disc of the foot. The neck bears a frieze of pendent elongated drops, closed below by groups of fine brown lines flanking a broad orange band. The main zone, set at the greatest diameter, carries a continuous ivy scroll: an undulating stem in dark brown with heart-shaped ivy leaves in orange springing alternately above and below it, the tendrils curling back towards the stem. A second set of framing lines and a broad orange band follow, and the lower body repeats the frieze of pendent drops. The underside of the foot and the lower stem are reserved.

Messapian matt-painted pottery is classified by regional style, phase and production centre rather than by individual hands. The ornamental repertoire is standardised and unfigured, so it offers none of the diagnostic detail on which attribution to a painter depends.

Provenance: Kuizenga collection, The Netherlands, acquired in Dortmund on the 29th May 1988.

Attribution verified by accredited archaeologist, specialist in Ancient Mediterranean Ceramics and Numismatics.
Size
21 cm H - 8 1/4 inches
Material
Terracotta 
Condition
Intact 
Categories
Greek
Price.
US$ 2000
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