Classical World, Magna Graecia, southern Italy, Apulia, Gnathian, ca. 360 to 325 BCE. A huge pottery krater (wine-mixing vessel) with a small footed base, gradually expanding walls, a deep interior cavity, a collared rim, and a pair of semicircular handles, each with a pierced suspension hole. The front displays a beautiful scene of white and orange leaves below the rim, drooping grape vines, and a stylized red sash enclosing either side of a courtesan's mask decorated with a creamy white face and fiery auburn hair, all atop a lustrous black-glazed ground. The verso is decorated with a lengthy white-painted bar enclosed with miniscule stippled borders. Though the rim and foot are unglazed, the overall elegance of this vessel is amplified by the reflective silver iridescence coating most of the exterior black ground. A lovely example that demonstrates skillful technique and a refined polychromatic effect characteristic of Gnathia. Size: 14" W x 9.3" H (35.6 cm x 23.6 cm).

Gnathia ware is named for the site where it was first discovered - the Apulian site of Egnathia (also Gnatia, Egnatia, Ignazia). Apulian vase painters created this style, Gnathian ware, where the entire vessel was glazed black – meant to emulate the look of fine bronze - then painted with floral or other decorative motifs in red, creamy white, and orange/yellow pigments. Scholars believe that its production most likely was centered around Taras, with primary workshops in Canosa and Egnathia, the town where the style was perfected. The quantity and quality of Greek colonial Apulian potters increased significantly following the Peloponnesian War when Attic exports dramatically decreased. Apulian artistry demonstrates influences of Ionian (Athenian, Attic) conventions, as well as Doric (western colonial Greek) styles, with a palpable native Italian aesthetic.

For a stylistically similar Gnathian vessel with a courtesan's mask, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 65.11.15: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255196

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-La Reine Margot, a third generation antiquities dealer in Paris, France

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#135094

Vessel repaired from multiple large pieces with some restoration, overpainting, and small losses along break lines. Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age as expected, small chips to rim, foot, body, and interior, and fading and losses to pigmentation and glazing. Great silvery iridescence across most glazed surfaces, and nice earthen deposits throughout.