Magna Grecia, Campania Ceramica Cratere a campana con scena di banchetto. IV secolo a.C. Altezza 25 cm.

Bell crater with a banquet scene

CULTURE: Magna Grecia, Campania

PERIOD: 4th century BC.

MATERIAL: Ceramic

DIMENSIONS: 24,5 cm height and 24,5 cm in diameter

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Paris, France. 1970.

CONSERVATION: Good state of preservation. The vase is intact except for a restoration on the right base of the foot.

Crater with an inverted bell-shaped body, raised on a short foot with a truncated conical base with a molded lower profile. It has two arc-shaped handles, circular in section, which emerge diagonally from the upper half of the tank and bend inwards at the top. The mouth is wide, flat and with a differentiated lip, and is joined to the tank through a neck that extends the sinuous curve of the tank. The piece is decorated with the red figure technique, with two large main motifs, one per front, both delimited in the lower zone by a plain red band. The neck is occupied by a laurel wreath with the classic chromatic scheme inverted, that is, with the motif in black on a red background. The handles, one red and the other black, are placed on red planes in reserve, and below them there are symmetrical palmettes.

One of the fronts presents a symposium or banquet scene of a couple reclining, holding a plate and a skyphos. Below the palmettes appear with food. On the reverse are two laureate athletes in togas. Some details are painted in white.

The crater is a type of Greek pottery used to contain a mixture of water and wine, with which the cups were filled. It was moved to the place of the meal and placed on the floor or on a platform, and the cupbearer administered the liquid with a spoon, filling the cups of the diners. The craters were mainly made of ceramic but also in precious metals, and were modeled in different shapes according to the taste of the artist, although always maintaining a very wide mouth. The most common shapes are the column, chalice, bell and scroll kraters. The bell-shaped krater, typology represented by the piece under study, is differentiated by the inverted bell shape and by the short arched handles, oriented upwards and located in the upper half of the tank.


In southern Italy and Sicily, the region known as Magna Graecia, there is ceramic production imitating Attic red-figured vessels as early as the beginning of the 5th century B.C. It is not known exactly how Greek know-how reached Italy, although it was probably due to the emigration of Athenian craftsmen fleeing the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.). In fact, the defeat of Athens by the Spartans led to the decline of the Attic production of red-figure pottery and, therefore, of its export, which undoubtedly spurred local Italian production. The first workshop established as such will appear around 440 in Metapontum, Lucania, and by the mid-4th century Magna Graecia production will be in full swing. However, the Italian workshops would gradually lose quality and disappear towards the end of the century.

Campania was one of the five regions of red-figure pottery production within Magna Graecia. Its workshops, founded from the mid-4th century BC, were located in the cities of Capua and Cumae. The most common typology in this ceramic center would be a local form of amphora with an upper arched handle; monumental vessels of the type common in other southern Italian centers, decorated with large mythological or theatrical scenes, were not produced, so simple figurative themes and forms such as the bell jar and oinochoe would predominate. Campanian artisans used a type of pale-toned clay, which was sometimes dyed a reddish color applied before decoration, and white was often used for details. After a first stage close to the Attic pottery of the end of the 5th century BC, around 330 BC the influence of Apulia, the most important center of Magna Graecia, will prevail. The production will disappear in Capua around 320 B.C., although in Cumae it will continue until the end of the century.

The first master of Campania is the Painter of Cassandra, active in Capua between 380 and 360 B.C., whose language still evidences the Attic influence, coming through Sicilian painters, which is at the base of Campanian ceramics. Its main follower is the Painter of the Mottled Rocks, so called because of the presence in his works of an element that will be characteristic of Campanian ceramics: the mottled rocks, typical of the volcanic landscape of the region. The most frequently represented themes will be women and warriors dressed in local costumes, often performing funeral rituals, and also characteristic of Campania are the plates with representations of fish. There are also pieces decorated with mythological and Dionysian themes, as well as some representation of flaccid farce, typical of southern Italy.

Red-figured pottery was one of the most important figurative styles of Greek pottery. It was developed in Athens around 520 B.C., and was used until the third century B.C. It replaced the previous predominant style of black-figure pottery after a few decades. The technical basis was the same in both cases, but in the red figures the coloring is inverted, the figures being highlighted on a dark background, as if they were illuminated by a theatrical light, following a more natural scheme. Painters working with black figures were forced to keep the motifs well separated from each other and to limit the complexity of the illustration. In contrast, the red-figure technique allowed greater freedom. Each figure was silhouetted against a black background, allowing painters to portray anatomical details with more accuracy and variety.

The technique consisted of painting the motifs on the still wet piece, using a transparent varnish that, when fired, acquired an intense black hue. Therefore, the motifs were invisible before firing, which meant that the painters had to work entirely from memory, without being able to see their previous work. Once the piece was fired, the areas not covered by the glaze remained with the reddish tone of the clay, while the glazed, "painted" areas took on a dense, shiny black color.

Notes:
- The piece includes authenticity certificate.
- The piece includes Spanish Export License.
- The seller guarantees that he acquired this piece according to all national and international laws related to the ownership of cultural property. Provenance statement seen by Catawiki.