SOUTHERN ITALY. Canosa. Circa 300-250 BCE. Polychrome Pottery Volute Krater....

Description

Rare Polychrome Krater

SOUTHERN ITALY. Canosa. Circa 300-250 BCE. Polychrome Pottery Volute Krater. Standing 23.5 inches (59.7 cm) high, this impressive krater has volutes molded with facing heads of Io. Decorations in applied pastel hues of cream, mauve, turquoise, and fleshtone include: an architectural olovo pattern encircling rim and upper neck, a winged male figure on the neck to obverse and three winged putti to the reverse, the neck flanked by branched handles, tongue decoration to the shoulders, and a body decorated to obverse and reverse with winged allegorical figures (Nikes?) clasping hands among swirling floral decoration, raised on conical foot. Largely intact save for a small crack to foot with flake loss, very light chipping to rim, encrustation to body with losses to pigments, light surface wear and abrasions; examination under UV light indicates light pigment strengthening to some illustrations. A polychrome piece with substantial surviving pigment, extremely rare as such.

Note: This example is a pseudo-krater that is hollow throughout, likely intended for funerary use.

From a New York private collection.

While Greek vases of the bichrome red- and black-figure variety are more familiar to the general public, Greco-Italian pottery of the middle Hellenistic period (circa 300-200 BC) witnessed a chromatic explosion that produced designs of great beauty and vibrancy. In a new technique, tempera colors were applied to the vase after firing. The use of a broader color palette foreshadowed the wall frescoes of the Roman world. Only rarely do surviving specimens of polychrome pottery retain most of their pigments, as does this exemplary specimen.

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