Height 35 cm | Height 13 3/4 in FF.060
c.400 BCE - 300 BCE TerracottaAmong the five schools of South Italian vase painting which flourished during the late 5th and the 4th centuries BC (Lucanian, Apulian, Campanian, Paestan, and Sicilian), the Apulian fabric is the most common among the vases that are extant today, representing around half of the known corpus.
The main centre of production was at Taranto, known as Taras when it was established in the 8th century by the Spartans during a period of Greek colonisation of Italy.
From the beginning, there was a focus within Apulian vase-painting on mythological subjects, often on vases of large dimensions. The painters at Taranto seem to have remained in close contact with the Attic (Athenian) vase-painting tradition, the influence of which is strong in the early examples.1 A variety of vase shapes are used in Apulia; the volute-krater is the most characteristic, but bell, calyx, and column kraters are also used, as well as other shapes such as amphorae, hydriai, lekanides, lekythoi, oenochoai, skyphoi and cups. Some shapes are almost entirely confined to the Apulian fabric, such as loutrophoroi, kantharoi, rhyta and stamnoi.2
1 A. D. Trendall, Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1989), pg. 23.
2 A. D. Trendall, Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1989), pg. 10.
Apulian vases can be divided into two main groups: ‘earlier’ and ‘later’. The decoration of the ‘earlier’ vases usually consists of scenes containing between one and four figures. These often have Dionysiac themes, or subjects connected to athletics or warriors. The ‘later’ vases are often larger, with more elaborate decoration. The imagery is frequently divided into tiers and can contain up to twenty figures, occasionally more, along with a great deal of subsidiary ornamentation.3 The subject matter of these is usually mythological or funerary. From around 370-360 BC, the ‘later style’ vases overtake the ‘earlier’ in terms of popularity, and the ‘early’ vases that are produced become more elaborate in their decoration.4 The standard decoration for the reverse sides of Apulian vases is two or three draped youths, as is common in South Italian fabrics.
3 A. D. Trendall, Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1989), pg. 74. 4 A. D. Trendall, Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1989), pg. 25.Pelike is the term used to describe a type of vase with two vertical handles and a narrow neck, where the broadest part of the body is below the mid-point of its height. Unlike many amphorae, the bottom is not pointed but has a round base, allowing it to stand unsupported. The shape of the vessel was originally designed as a storage receptacle for liquids, particularly oil and wine, but it is likely that elaborately decorated examples such as this one served a funereal purpose.
The pelike
Height 35 cm
Height 13 3/4 in
Provenance:
Acquired at Christie’s, New York, 2004
Previously, property of Tara Colburn
This pelike belongs to the ‘earlier’ group of Apulian vase-painting, with the obverse showing two figures in a Dionysiac scene. The nude male figure on the right is Dionysus himself, wearing a fillet in his hair. Dionysus was a Greek god connected to wine-making, fertility, religious ecstasy, drama, and festivity. His worship is thought to go back at least as far as the Mycenaean period, as his name can be found on tablets documenting wine offerings to him from around 1300 BCE. He was worshipped in festivals such as the Rural and City Dionysia, which involved processions and dramatic performances. He was also associated with the Dionysian Mysteries, a ritual in which intoxicating substances and trance-inducing techniques such as music and movement were used in an attempt to remove inhibitions and seek out a natural and transcendental state. He is seated on his chlamys and holds a kettledrum in his right hand and a thyrsus in his left. Although his body is facing to his left, he looks back over his right shoulder towards the figure of Ariadne standing behind him. She is depicted in full drapery, with her hair elegantly arranged beneath a sakkos. Beaded jewellery also adorns her neck and wrist. The band above the scene is filled with the rosette and dotted ovolo motif, whilst that below the figures features the meander pattern. Palmette designs under both the handles separate this scene from that on the reverse.
The story of these two meeting was a well-known one within Greek mythology; after Ariadne helped the Athenian Theseus to defeat the Minotaur in her homeland of Crete, she intended to travel home with him on board his ship. However, when the ships stopped at Naxos, Theseus left Ariadne sleeping on the island and sailed away without her. In most versions of the story, Dionysus then finds her alone on the island and marries her. On this vase, Dionysus and Ariadne are gazing towards each other. The poses of their upper bodies are very similar; they are both holding an item in each hand with their arms extended from their bodies. It seems almost as if they have stopped midway through what they were doing, transfixed by the other’s presence.
The reverse of the pelike depicts two standing draped youths, the standard decoration within South Italian vase painting. They appear to be in conversation, and the one on the right is leaning on a stick. The man on the left is wearing his cloak in a ‘sling’ drape, preferred for figures facing right, where the folds of the himation underneath the elbow of the bent right arm form a sling shape.5 Above the figures is a ring-shaped object, possibly a wreath. Beneath their feet is a line of meander pattern but in contrast to the obverse, the neck of the vessel is decorated with the laurel wreath motif.
Fig 1. Sling
5 A.D. Trendall, The Red-Figured Vases of Paestum (British School at Rome, 1987), pg.13-15.
Fig 1. Sling
• Trendall, A.D. The Red-Figured Vases of Paestum. British School at Rome, 1987.
• Trendall, A.D. Red Figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily. London: Thames and Hudson, 1989.
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