Thursday, January 7, 2021

Grecian Vases from Ancient Colonies in South Italy

Greek Culture in South Italy
Skyphos
Woman and Oscan Warrior
350-325 BC
painted terracotta
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Greek Culture in South Italy
Skyphos
Woman and Oscan Warrior
(side view)
350-325 BC
painted terracotta
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Greek Culture in South Italy
Volute Krater
Medea at Eleusis
340-330 BC
painted terracotta
Princeton University Art Museum

Greek Culture in South Italy
Volute Krater
Medea at Eleusis
(side view)
340-330 BC
painted terracotta
Princeton University Art Museum

Greek Culture in South Italy
Volute Krater
Death of Penthesilea, Amazon Queen,
in the arms of Achilles
370-350 BC
painted terracotta
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

"The big volute kraters of the Ornate Style seem destined for Greek graves, and some graves were dug with separate compartments to receive them.  The vases could hardly have been used for a symposium, unless perhaps at some funeral feast, but this is difficult to envisage, and we have noted that several shapes, and not only the largest, were made bottomless, decidedly not for use.  . . .  One wonders who viewed them and when, except at burials.  If they were bespoke for particular burials we are at a loss to determine what provoked the choice of one scene rather than another, and might have to find an occasion for the committal to the grave some time after the actual burial.  The design and execution of such vases must have taken days and, if some scenes were thought to have specific importance for a particular burial they could hardly come from stock.  Some of the decoration of the kraters is funerary in character, heroizing the dead; these need not have been bespoke, but were surely expensive.  Many, however, also or only present big tableaux of mythological events, acted by groups of figures.  . . .  Many of the big Apulian vases survive intact and their, to modern eyes, rather unpleasing shapes, and the crowding of figures, too readily disguise the extremely high quality of draughtsmanship."

– John Boardman, The History of Greek Vases (Thames & Hudson, 2001)  

Greek Culture in South Italy
Kylix
Athlete
410-380 BC
painted terracotta
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Greek Culture in South Italy
Hydria
Return of Hephaestus to Olympus
525 BC
painted terracotta
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Greek Culture in South Italy
Hydria
Grave Stele with Mourners
340-320 BC
painted terracotta
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Greek Culture in South Italy
Hydria
Naiskos (Funerary Shrine)
330-300 BC
painted terracotta
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Greek Culture in South Italy
Hydria
Naiskos (Funerary Shrine)
(back view)
330-300 BC
painted terracotta
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Greek Culture in South Italy
Hydria
Naiskos (Funerary Shrine)
(side view)
330-300 BC
painted terracotta
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Greek Culture in South Italy
Neck Amphora
Orestes about to slay Clytemnestra
340 BC
painted terracotta
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Greek Culture in South Italy
Dinos
Banquet Scene
375-350 BC
painted terracotta
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Greek Culture in South Italy
Dinos
Banquet Scene
375-350 BC
painted terracotta
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Greek Culture in South Italy
Fragment
Muse with Lyre
350 BC
painted terracotta
Getty Museum, Los Angeles