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Greek Paestan Red Figure Bell Krater Magna Graecia, Sicily, Paestum (in Greek Poseidonia), ca.
Description
Greek Paestan Red Figure Bell Krater
Magna Graecia, Sicily, Paestum (in Greek Poseidonia), ca. late 5th to early 4th century BCE. A large two-sided red-figure bell krater vessel for mixing wine and water, in the style of the Python painter or the Painter of Wurtzburg, adorned with rich iconography, the figures delineated in an almost silhouette-like manner characteristic of Paestan red-figure style. The dot-stripe borders on the himatia of the draped youths was practiced by Python and the Painter of Wurtzburg. Side A depicts a nude male presenting gifts to a seated maiden who dons a flowing chiton and a fanciful coiffure, both figures adorned with beaded baubles. Side B features a Bacchanalian scene with Bacchus (Dionysus) performing an ecstatic dance and presenting grapes to a seated nobleman wrapped in flowing robes. This is Bacchus as Eleutherios ("the liberator"), whose wine, music and lively dance was said to free his followers from self-conscious fear and concerns, thus subverting the oppressive restraints of the powerful. Those who partook of his mysteries were possessed and empowered by the god himself. Above the scenes, on the underside of the turned rim is a continuous spray of laurel leaves. Beneath, a register adorned with a wave motif. Large palmettes surround each handle. Size: 13-3/4"H (34.93 cm) x 13-1/2" in diameter (34.29 cm).
The Paestan style is one of five red-figure fabrics that developed in Magna Graecia inspired by pottery that had been made in Athens since the later 6th century BCE and was admired by the Greek colonists of South Italy and Sicily. The beginning of red-figure painting in Sicily is still being sorted out by scholars; however, the high point of production of Paestan vase painting occurred from 360 to 310 BCE. According to expert Ian McPhee, Paestan vases are "painted with scenes involving mythical or divine figures or those drawn from everyday life using the red-figure technique in which the figures and floral are reserved in the typically orange clay and the background is covered with a thin clay slip that fires black. These vases were not made for export but for local needs and are, with few exceptions, found only at Paestum and at neighboring sites within a relatively restricted area. The fired clay of Paestan vases is usually quite distinctive: it often has a rich orange color, though at times this is muted to a light brown, and normally it is full of shiny specks of mica." Indeed stylistically this piece matches McPhee's description. Furthermore, a close inspection of this example shows minute golden specks indicative of its micaceous content. (Ian McPhee, "A Paestan Vase by Python: In memory of Dale Trendall," Art Journal 46, National Gallery of Victoria, 2006.)
Provenance: Ex-private Ketchum, Idaho collection, acquired at major auction houses and galleries before 2004.
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
#108385
Condition
One section of the rim reattached, but all there. Some chips on the foot. Painting shows wear from age. Overall excellent.
Magna Graecia, Sicily, Paestum (in Greek Poseidonia), ca. late 5th to early 4th century BCE. A large two-sided red-figure bell krater vessel for mixing wine and water, in the style of the Python painter or the Painter of Wurtzburg, adorned with rich iconography, the figures delineated in an almost silhouette-like manner characteristic of Paestan red-figure style. The dot-stripe borders on the himatia of the draped youths was practiced by Python and the Painter of Wurtzburg. Side A depicts a nude male presenting gifts to a seated maiden who dons a flowing chiton and a fanciful coiffure, both figures adorned with beaded baubles. Side B features a Bacchanalian scene with Bacchus (Dionysus) performing an ecstatic dance and presenting grapes to a seated nobleman wrapped in flowing robes. This is Bacchus as Eleutherios ("the liberator"), whose wine, music and lively dance was said to free his followers from self-conscious fear and concerns, thus subverting the oppressive restraints of the powerful. Those who partook of his mysteries were possessed and empowered by the god himself. Above the scenes, on the underside of the turned rim is a continuous spray of laurel leaves. Beneath, a register adorned with a wave motif. Large palmettes surround each handle. Size: 13-3/4"H (34.93 cm) x 13-1/2" in diameter (34.29 cm).
The Paestan style is one of five red-figure fabrics that developed in Magna Graecia inspired by pottery that had been made in Athens since the later 6th century BCE and was admired by the Greek colonists of South Italy and Sicily. The beginning of red-figure painting in Sicily is still being sorted out by scholars; however, the high point of production of Paestan vase painting occurred from 360 to 310 BCE. According to expert Ian McPhee, Paestan vases are "painted with scenes involving mythical or divine figures or those drawn from everyday life using the red-figure technique in which the figures and floral are reserved in the typically orange clay and the background is covered with a thin clay slip that fires black. These vases were not made for export but for local needs and are, with few exceptions, found only at Paestum and at neighboring sites within a relatively restricted area. The fired clay of Paestan vases is usually quite distinctive: it often has a rich orange color, though at times this is muted to a light brown, and normally it is full of shiny specks of mica." Indeed stylistically this piece matches McPhee's description. Furthermore, a close inspection of this example shows minute golden specks indicative of its micaceous content. (Ian McPhee, "A Paestan Vase by Python: In memory of Dale Trendall," Art Journal 46, National Gallery of Victoria, 2006.)
Provenance: Ex-private Ketchum, Idaho collection, acquired at major auction houses and galleries before 2004.
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
#108385
Condition
One section of the rim reattached, but all there. Some chips on the foot. Painting shows wear from age. Overall excellent.
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Greek Paestan Red Figure Bell Krater
Magna Graecia, Sicily, Paestum (in Greek Poseidonia), ca. late 5th to early 4th century BCE. A large two-sided red-figure bell krater vessel for mixing wine and water, in the style of the Python painter or the Painter of Wurtzburg, adorned with rich iconography, the figures delineated in an almost silhouette-like manner characteristic of Paestan red-figure style. The dot-stripe borders on the himatia of the draped youths was practiced by Python and the Painter of Wurtzburg. Side A depicts a nude male presenting gifts to a seated maiden who dons a flowing chiton and a fanciful coiffure, both figures adorned with beaded baubles. Side B features a Bacchanalian scene with Bacchus (Dionysus) performing an ecstatic dance and presenting grapes to a seated nobleman wrapped in flowing robes. This is Bacchus as Eleutherios ("the liberator"), whose wine, music and lively dance was said to free his followers from self-conscious fear and concerns, thus subverting the oppressive restraints of the powerful. Those who partook of his mysteries were possessed and empowered by the god himself. Above the scenes, on the underside of the turned rim is a continuous spray of laurel leaves. Beneath, a register adorned with a wave motif. Large palmettes surround each handle. Size: 13-3/4"H (34.93 cm) x 13-1/2" in diameter (34.29 cm).
The Paestan style is one of five red-figure fabrics that developed in Magna Graecia inspired by pottery that had been made in Athens since the later 6th century BCE and was admired by the Greek colonists of South Italy and Sicily. The beginning of red-figure painting in Sicily is still being sorted out by scholars; however, the high point of production of Paestan vase painting occurred from 360 to 310 BCE. According to expert Ian McPhee, Paestan vases are "painted with scenes involving mythical or divine figures or those drawn from everyday life using the red-figure technique in which the figures and floral are reserved in the typically orange clay and the background is covered with a thin clay slip that fires black. These vases were not made for export but for local needs and are, with few exceptions, found only at Paestum and at neighboring sites within a relatively restricted area. The fired clay of Paestan vases is usually quite distinctive: it often has a rich orange color, though at times this is muted to a light brown, and normally it is full of shiny specks of mica." Indeed stylistically this piece matches McPhee's description. Furthermore, a close inspection of this example shows minute golden specks indicative of its micaceous content. (Ian McPhee, "A Paestan Vase by Python: In memory of Dale Trendall," Art Journal 46, National Gallery of Victoria, 2006.)
Provenance: Ex-private Ketchum, Idaho collection, acquired at major auction houses and galleries before 2004.
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
#108385
Condition
One section of the rim reattached, but all there. Some chips on the foot. Painting shows wear from age. Overall excellent.
Magna Graecia, Sicily, Paestum (in Greek Poseidonia), ca. late 5th to early 4th century BCE. A large two-sided red-figure bell krater vessel for mixing wine and water, in the style of the Python painter or the Painter of Wurtzburg, adorned with rich iconography, the figures delineated in an almost silhouette-like manner characteristic of Paestan red-figure style. The dot-stripe borders on the himatia of the draped youths was practiced by Python and the Painter of Wurtzburg. Side A depicts a nude male presenting gifts to a seated maiden who dons a flowing chiton and a fanciful coiffure, both figures adorned with beaded baubles. Side B features a Bacchanalian scene with Bacchus (Dionysus) performing an ecstatic dance and presenting grapes to a seated nobleman wrapped in flowing robes. This is Bacchus as Eleutherios ("the liberator"), whose wine, music and lively dance was said to free his followers from self-conscious fear and concerns, thus subverting the oppressive restraints of the powerful. Those who partook of his mysteries were possessed and empowered by the god himself. Above the scenes, on the underside of the turned rim is a continuous spray of laurel leaves. Beneath, a register adorned with a wave motif. Large palmettes surround each handle. Size: 13-3/4"H (34.93 cm) x 13-1/2" in diameter (34.29 cm).
The Paestan style is one of five red-figure fabrics that developed in Magna Graecia inspired by pottery that had been made in Athens since the later 6th century BCE and was admired by the Greek colonists of South Italy and Sicily. The beginning of red-figure painting in Sicily is still being sorted out by scholars; however, the high point of production of Paestan vase painting occurred from 360 to 310 BCE. According to expert Ian McPhee, Paestan vases are "painted with scenes involving mythical or divine figures or those drawn from everyday life using the red-figure technique in which the figures and floral are reserved in the typically orange clay and the background is covered with a thin clay slip that fires black. These vases were not made for export but for local needs and are, with few exceptions, found only at Paestum and at neighboring sites within a relatively restricted area. The fired clay of Paestan vases is usually quite distinctive: it often has a rich orange color, though at times this is muted to a light brown, and normally it is full of shiny specks of mica." Indeed stylistically this piece matches McPhee's description. Furthermore, a close inspection of this example shows minute golden specks indicative of its micaceous content. (Ian McPhee, "A Paestan Vase by Python: In memory of Dale Trendall," Art Journal 46, National Gallery of Victoria, 2006.)
Provenance: Ex-private Ketchum, Idaho collection, acquired at major auction houses and galleries before 2004.
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
#108385
Condition
One section of the rim reattached, but all there. Some chips on the foot. Painting shows wear from age. Overall excellent.
Exceptional Ancient and Ethnographic Art
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