Apulian vase painting was a regional style of
South Italian vase painting
South Italian is a designation for ancient Greek pottery fabricated in Magna Graecia largely during the 4th century BC. The fact that Greek Southern Italy produced its own red-figure pottery as early as the end of the 5th century BC was first esta ...
from ancient
Apulia
it, Pugliese
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, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
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, demographic ...
. It comprises
geometric pottery and
red-figure pottery
Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting.
It developed in Athens around 520 BCE and remained in use until the late 3rd century BCE. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure va ...
.
The legitimate
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
sequel to the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
and
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
culture of
Matera
Matera (, ; Materano: ) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy.
As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a comp ...
and
Molfetta
Molfetta (; Molfettese: ) is a town located in the northern side of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy.
It has a well restored old city, and its own dialect.
History
The earliest local signs of permanent habitation are a ...
has not yet been discovered and the pre-history of
Daunia
The Daunians ( el, Δαύνιοι, Daúnioi; la, Daunii) were an Iapygian tribe that inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Messapians, inhabited central and southern Apulia respectiv ...
,
Peucetia and
Messapia begins to take shape as a coherent whole only with the 7th century BCE. Even then our knowledge is almost confined to the pottery, but it offers a rich field for study.
[For the main sections of this article, these primary sources have been consulted and referenced throughout the text: with its basic bibliography and notes, especially useful in the illustration of specific pottery; Stephen B. Luce]
"Early Vases from Apulia"
''The Museum Journal'', Volume X, December, 1919, Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1919, pp. 217-225; the essential texts by Michele Gervasio (it), ''Bronzi arcaici e ceramica geometrica nel Museo di Bari'', Bari, 1921, for which see also E. Douglas Van Buren's synoptical review on
''Classical Philology''
Vol. 17, No. 2, Apr., 1922, pp. 176-179; also Michele Gervasio, ''I dolmen e la civiltà del bronzo nelle Puglie'', Bari, 1913; Filli Rossi, ''Ceramica geometrica apula'', Bretschneider Giorgio, 1981, as well as his ''Ceramica geometrica daunia'', Dedalo, 1993. Fundamental work is the German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
Maximilian Mayer
''Apulien vor und während der Hellenisierung''
B.G. Teubner, 1914 as well as his specifically researche
''Molfetta und Matera''
Karl W. Hiersemann, 1924. Generally, compare the requisite David Randall-MacIver
David Randall-MacIver FBA (31 October 1873 – 30 April 1945) was a British-born archaeologist, who later became an American citizen. He is most famous for his excavations at Great Zimbabwe which provided the first solid evidence that the site was ...
''The Iron Age in Italy''
Clarendon Press, 1927.
Geometric pottery
The subject of the painted pottery has been put on a scientific basis by the intensive studies of , who has identified and distinguished the products of the several provincial schools, and has established a scheme of dating which, with some slight rectifications and adjustments, due principally to
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
archaeologist
Michele Gervasio, may be considered as final.
The division of schools corresponds very closely to the old pre-Roman distribution of the region into three sections. Of these the most northern is
Daunia
The Daunians ( el, Δαύνιοι, Daúnioi; la, Daunii) were an Iapygian tribe that inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Messapians, inhabited central and southern Apulia respectiv ...
, extending from the promontory of
Gargano to the most southern point in the course of the river
Aufidus
The Ofanto (), known in ancient times as Aufidus or Canna, is a river in southern Italy that flows through the regions of Campania, Basilicata, and Apulia, into the Gulf of Manfredonia near Barletta.
Geography
The river's source is on the ...
; next to which is
Peucetia, which for purposes of this classification may be said to begin at
Bari and end at E
gnatia
Gnatia, Egnatia or Ignatia ( grc-gre, Egnatia, script=Latn) was an Ancient city of the Messapii, and their frontier town towards the Salentini. As Egnazia Appula it was a medieval bishopric, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see.
It is loca ...
. South of a line drawn from Egnatia to
Taranto
Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...
, the whole heel of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, with
Lecce at its centre, is
Messapia.
Each of these regions has its own peculiar and well marked style in pottery. The chronology of all three is not precisely concurrent; actually the
Daunian school is dated from about 600 to 450BC and the
Peucetian from 650 to 500BC, while the
Messapian only begins at 500BC and lasts for two centuries. Wholly distinct is a much later Daunian school confined to
Canosa, which belongs to the fourth and third centuries and may be called late-Canosan.
This chronology excludes any connection with the
Mycenae
Mycenae ( ; grc, Μυκῆναι or , ''Mykē̂nai'' or ''Mykḗnē'') is an archaeological site near Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about south-west of Athens; north of Argos; and south of Corinth. ...
an. Actually no single example of Mycenaean ware has ever been discovered between the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...
and the
Gulf of Taranto. But at two places in Apulia,
Mattinata on the promontory of Gargano and the Borgo Nuovo at Taranto, geometric pottery of the very early
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
has been found. These two isolated discoveries, however, have yet to be explained; they stand apart from all other Apulian products and their proper connections have not been ascertained. The pottery of Mattinata and of Borgo Nuovo is apparently a foreign importation and its date is several centuries earlier than that of the regular Apulian schools now to be described.
Apulian pottery schools
Daunian
Canosa and
Ruvo have yielded the greatest quantity of early
Daunian pottery
Daunian pottery was produced in the ''Daunia'', today's Italian provinces of Barletta and Foggia. It was created by the Daunians, a tribe of the Iapygian civilization who had come from Illyria.
Daunian pottery was mainly produced in the region ...
, and were perhaps the principal, though not the only centers for its production. It is found over the whole of Daunia from
Bitonto in the south to
Lucera
Lucera ( Lucerino: ) is an Italian city of 34,243 inhabitants in the province of Foggia in the region of Apulia, and the seat of the Diocese of Lucera-Troia.
Located upon a flat knoll in the Tavoliere Plains, near the foot of Daunian Mount ...
and
Teanum in the north, occasionally in
Picenum, and even in
Istria. In
Campania
(man), it, Campana (woman)
, population_note =
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, population_blank1 =
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, demog ...
also the site of
Suessula has yielded several vases, produced apparently under Daunian influence.
There are four principal forms. The first is a round-bottomed footless ''
krater
A krater or crater ( grc-gre, , ''kratēr'', literally "mixing vessel") was a large two-handled shape of vase in Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water.
Form and function
At a Greek symposium, krat ...
'' with side handles and a plate-like rim (
cf. example 1); the second is a similar krater on a pedestal. This latter is the shape known in Picenum, where its occurrence at
Novilara puts its date at least as early as 600BC. From the round-bottomed krater is evolved the most peculiar and characteristic product of Canosa, that is, the double-storied jar. The plate-like rim has been developed into a deep bowl, which becomes more and more exaggerated during the 5th century until eventually it takes up nearly half the height of the entire jar. Strange fanciful additions are then made in the way of plastic ornament. To the ordinary ring handles are added a third and even a fourth, of increasingly fantastic kind. They may take the shape of an animal's face, most like a cat or an owl, or be formed like a thumbless human hand, which had probably some
talisman
A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed perm ...
ic value. The fourth principal shape of pot is that which is known in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
as an ''
askos'' (
cf. example 2), derived originally from an ordinary
goatskin, and know at an early date over much of
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
and Italy, but perhaps introduced by the
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
.
Rarer, but extremely characteristic of the
Daunians
The Daunians ( el, Δαύνιοι, Daúnioi; la, Daunii) were an Iapygian tribe that inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Messapians, inhabited central and southern Apulia respectiv ...
, are elaborate grotesque ritual vases. One example is a ritual vase with a female figure opposite to the spout, in ceremonial dress with a fillet on her brow, long plaits of hair hanging down on her shoulders, and circular discs covering her ears. Instead of human figures, other examples have strange creatures with birds'-heads upon necks like serpents and other unusual experiments in
zoomorphism
The word ''zoomorphism'' derives from the Greek ζωον (''zōon''), meaning "animal", and μορφη (''morphē''), meaning "shape" or "form". In the context of art, zoomorphism could describe art that imagines humans as non-human animals. It c ...
(cf. also
example 3, of an unpainted Daunian vessel). Apart from an occasional drawing of this kind, always quite schematic, the decoration of all Daunian vases is purely geometric. Squares, lozenges and triangles are the usual motives, arranged in panels of varying length and separated by vertical lines. Most of the decoration is placed on the upper half of the vase. In the school of Ruvo the fashion was to place a hanging trapezoidal figure on the lower half, but Canosa preferred horizontal bands or concentric circles on this otherwise empty field. Almost all the Daunian pottery was made by hand, but in a few of the finest kraters from Ruvo the wheel seems to have been used. The decorative designs were painted in two alternating colours, red and dark violet, generally but not always laid on a background of whitish slip.
Peucetian
Entirely different from the Daunian pottery, both in spirit and in choice of shape and subject, is the
Peucetian pottery
Peucetian pottery was a type of pottery made in the Apulian region of southern Italy by the Peucetians from the beginning of the 7th to the 6th centuries BC. It is an indigenous type. Its production area occupied the space between Bari and Gnat ...
. Fantastic ritual vases are unknown in Peucetia; kraters, bowls and jugs are the only forms permitted, and these are decorated in a style which is both simple and harmonious. There are two main classes of peucetian ware, the one painted in red and black (...), contemporary with imported
Corinthian vases and considerably influenced by them, the other in plain black and white with a more restricted range of motives (cf.
Gallery
Gallery or The Gallery may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Art gallery
** Contemporary art gallery
Music
* Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s
Albums
* ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album
* ''Gallery'' (Gr ...
). There are four principal motives in the black and white, two of which, the
swastika and the
comb
A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...
, overshadow the others. Swastikas began to appear at just the same period on pottery in the north of Italy, and are probably an imported conception from the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
to the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
. The other chief motives are the festoon, and the zigzag. Cross-hatched lozenges are common to all these geometric schools but the
Maltese cross, though only occasional, is peculiar to the
Peucetians
The Peucetians ( grc, Πευκέτιοι, Peukétioi; la, Peucetii; later also grc, Ποίδικλοι, Poidikloi, links=no; la, Poediculi, links=no) were an Iapygian tribe which inhabited western and central Apulia in classical antiquity. Tw ...
. This black and white ware goes back to 650BC and has a range of about 150 years from that point downwards.
The sources of inspiration for the black and white class have been unsuccessfully sought in various places; and it seems fair to regard this ware as in the main an indigenous product. Daunians and Peucetians, dissimilar enough in all other respects, had each inherited a certain repertoire of geometric tradition which was widely current over the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
, but each converted it into a new style which expressed the particular temperament of an inventive and artistic race. With the red and black ware, the permeating Corinthian influence is readily identified, and vases of this kind have been found actually associated in the same graves with Corinthian. Here also credit must be given to the Peucetians potters for their ability in adopting new motives and transmuting them without slavish copying.
Messapian
The
Messapian school shows far less originality than the other two. When it appears for the first time in the 5th century, the Messapian is already a mixed style, to a great extent
Hellenised
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the H ...
. Some traces of an earlier geometric tradition still survive, though overlaid and almost stifled by the foreign innovations. In the early 5th century
clepsydra,
lozenge
Lozenge or losange may refer to:
* Lozenge (shape), a type of rhombus
*Throat lozenge, a tablet intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to suppress throat ailments
*Lozenge (heraldry), a diamond-shaped object that can be placed on the field of ...
and band, the old elements of the Italian geometric, are still in existence. But the uncontaminated geometric is very rare in
Messapia; the native potter can hardly resist adding his zone of Greek
ivy-leaves, a
maeander, a
rosette, or even a
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
. The chief centres of manufacture for such ware (cf.
example 4) were at Rugge (Rudiae), near
Lecce, and Egnatia, each originally a
Rhodian
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the Sou ...
colony. The strongest Greek influence came therefore from Rhodian sources, though others may have had some share. The hallmark by which all Messapian pottery, except a little of the very earliest, can be detected, is the round disc about the size of a large coin at the stop and bottom of each handle. This peculiarity has caused the nickname of ''"trozzella"'' to be given to such forms (cf.
example 5 and
Gallery
Gallery or The Gallery may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Art gallery
** Contemporary art gallery
Music
* Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s
Albums
* ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album
* ''Gallery'' (Gr ...
).
[The word "trozzella" is an Italianised form of the ]Salento
Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
word ''tròzzula'' ( la, trochlea, lit=pulley), which means rowel/wheel. Besides these the only shapes generally employed are the krater with column or handles, the jug, and a simple kind of bowl.
Canosan
Carefully to be distinguished from these three schools is the late-Canosan, which has nothing in common with the earlier Daunian school that also flourished at
Canosa, except the shape of the vase (
see Gallery). This survived simply because it was used for certain rituals which had not changed, but all the details of its decoration are different. The date of all the late-Canosan pottery is 3rd and 4th century. The evidence of the tombs shows that Canosa became the centre of a brilliant Apulian renaissance in the 4th century, and during the third it was an important factor in the art history of the
Hellenistic world
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in 3 ...
, becoming especially famous for large
rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
works in polychrome
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
, huge vases with
centaurs and
Cupids springing from the sides, surmounted very often by a
Niobe
In Greek mythology, Niobe (; grc-gre, Νιόβη ) was a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione, the most frequently cited, or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa, the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas.
Her father was the r ...
, a
Hermes
Hermes (; grc-gre, wikt:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travelle ...
, or some other statuette. At
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
there is a large collection of these, and of magnificent vases painted with scenes from
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...
and history. Documentary evidence proves that this collection, including the famous
Darius vase and all the splendid examples from Canosa now at
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, came from the same tombs as the humbler askoi
twin-situlae and "sphagia" (see Gallery). If the decoration of these is examined, it will be seen that the whole spirit of the late Canosan is entirely changed from that of the earlier Daunian school. In place of the lozenge, band and triangle, the primitive motives of the geometric repertoire, there are meanders, frets, vine leaves and egg patterns, all designs appearing on the contemporary Greek pottery. The domination of Greek fashion is complete. But the irrepressible individuality of the Daunian breaks out in the large statuettes.
Gallery
File:Apulian Askos.jpg, Apulian Askos
Daunisch-subgeometrischer Doppelhenkeltopf, Hetjens-Museum Düsseldorf.JPG, Daunian subgeometric duble-handle pot
Peucetian Ktater.jpg, Peucetian Krater
Messapian trozella, Florial motif painted, 4th c BC, Prague Kinsky, NM-H10 4793, 141209.jpg, Messapian Trozella
Canosa, cratere aon anse a sphrageion, 03.JPG, Canosan Krater
Red-figure pottery
Apulian vase painting was the leading
South Italian vase painting
South Italian is a designation for ancient Greek pottery fabricated in Magna Graecia largely during the 4th century BC. The fact that Greek Southern Italy produced its own red-figure pottery as early as the end of the 5th century BC was first esta ...
tradition between 430 and 300 BC. Of the ''circa'' 20,000 surviving specimens of Italian
red-figure
Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting.
It developed in Athens around 520 BCE and remained in use until the late 3rd century BCE. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure va ...
vases, about half are from Apulian production, while the rest are from the four other centres of production,
Paestum
Paestum ( , , ) was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC, whi ...
,
Campania
(man), it, Campana (woman)
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, demographics1_info1 =
, demog ...
,
Lucania
Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto.
It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Bruttiu ...
and
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
.
The main production centre for Apulian vases was at
Taras, the only large Greek ''
polis
''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...
'' in
Apulia
it, Pugliese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographic ...
. Two styles, the "Plain Style" and the "Ornate Style" (sometimes "Rich Style") are distinguished. The first largely eschews additional colouring and was mostly used for the decoration of bell ''
krater
A krater or crater ( grc-gre, , ''kratēr'', literally "mixing vessel") was a large two-handled shape of vase in Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water.
Form and function
At a Greek symposium, krat ...
s'', colonet ''kraters'' and smaller vessels. Their decoration is quite simple, the pictorial compositions usually include one to four figures (e.g., works by
Sisyphus Painter
The Sisyphus Painter was an Apulian red-figure vase painter. His works are dated to the last two decades of the fifth century and the very early fourth century BC.
The Sisyphus Painter is only known by this conventional name, as his true name rema ...
,
Tarporley Painter
The Tarporley Painter was a Greek Apulian red-figure vase painter. His works date to the first quarter of the 4th century BC. The Tarporley Painter is his period's most important representative of the so-called "Plain Style". He is considered to h ...
). The motifs focus on
mythical
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
subjects, but also include women's heads, warriors in scenes of battle or departure, and
dionysiac ''
thiasos
In Greek mythology and religion, the ''thiasus'' ( el, θίασος, thíasos), was the ecstatic retinue of Dionysus, often pictured as inebriated revelers. Many of the myths of Dionysus are connected with his arrival in the form of a processio ...
'' imagery. The backs usually have images of cloaked youths. After the middle of the fourth century, the simple style became increasingly similar to the ornate one (see, e.g., the
Varrese Painter
The Varrese Painter was an Apulian Red-figure pottery, red-figure Apulian vase painting, vase painter. His works are dated to the middle of the 4th century BC.
His conventional name is derived from the Varrese hypogeum (a rock-cut grave complex ...
).
The artists of the ''Ornate Style'' preferred bigger vessels with space for larger images, such as volute ''kraters'',
amphorae, ''
loutrophoroi'' and ''
hydria
The hydria ( el, ὑδρία; plural hydriai) is a form of Greek pottery from between the late Geometric period (7th century BC) and the Hellenistic period (3rd century BC). The etymology of the word hydria was first noted when it was stamped o ...
i''. Compositions contained up to 20 figures, often arranged in two or more registers. The figures frequently appear to be floating. Colouring was used copiously, especially red, gold/yellow and white. While ornamentation had originally been relatively simple, from the mid-fourth century BC onwards, painters increasingly placed rich vegetal ornaments, especially on the necks and sides of vases. At the same time, simple perspective depictions of architecture, especially of "Underworld Palaces" (''
naiskoi'') became common. From about 360 BC, a common motif was grave scenes showing individuals performing offerings at a stylised grave or pillar. Important representatives painters include the
Ilioupersis Painter, the
Darius Painter
The Darius Painter was an Apulian vase painter and the most eminent representative at the end of the " Ornate Style" in South Italian red-figure vase painting. His works were produced between 340 and 320 BC.
The Darius Painter's conventional name ...
and the
Baltimore Painter
The Baltimore Painter was an Apulian vase painter whose works date to the final quarter of the 4th century BC. He is considered the most important Late Apulian vase painter, and the last Apulian painter of importance. His conventional name is deri ...
.
Popular mythological motifs include the Assembly of the Gods, the
amazonomachy
In Greek mythology, Amazonomachy ( English translation: "Amazon battle"; plural, Amazonomachiai ( grc, Ἀμαζονομαχίαι) or Amazonomachies) was one of various mythical battles between the ancient Greeks and the Amazons, a nation of ...
,
Bellerophon,
Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...
, and events of the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...
. There are also many individual depictions of myths that are not commonly depicted elsewhere. Many scenes have
dionysiac or
aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. Substances range from a variety of plants, spices, foods, and synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs like cannabis or cocai ...
themes, probably directly connected to funerary traditions and grave cults (many of the vases were made as grave offerings). Ideas of an afterlife are frequently implied or expressed by such paintings. The motif of women's heads growing out of flowers or between tendrils belongs to the same context. Sometimes, the women's heads are replaced by that of
Pan,
Hermes
Hermes (; grc-gre, wikt:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travelle ...
or foreigners. In the second half of the fourth century, depictions of weddings, women and erotic motifs become more common. Apulian vases also occasionally depict
theatrical
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
scenes, which are also known from the other South Italian traditions, but absent in
Attica
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...
. These include motifs from dramatic theatre as well as farce (
phlyax play
A Phlyax play ( grc, φλύαξ, also phlyakes), also known as a hilarotragedy, was a burlesque dramatic form that developed in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in the 4th century BCE. Its name derives from the Phlyakes or “Gossip Players� ...
). In contrast, scenes of everyday life and athletic motifs disappear from the repertoire nearly totally after 370 BC.
The Apulian vase painters had considerable influence on the painters of the other South Italian traditions. Some of them appear to have moved to cities other than Taras, such as
Canosa. Apart from red-figure pottery, black-glazed vases with painted decoration (
Gnathian vases) and polychrome vases (
Canosan vases) were also produced. The South Italian clays are less rich in iron than the Attic ones. As a result, the clay would not reach the rich red known from Attic red-figure vases. This was compensated by the addition of
slips Slips (or SLIPS) may refer to:
*Slips (oil drilling)
*SLIPS (Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces)
*SLIPS (company)
*SLIPS (Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System)
*Slip (cricket), often used in the plural form
*The Slips, a UK electronic music duo
...
of light ochre clay before firing, which also produced smoother surfaces.
Notes
Literature
* Maximilian Mayer, ''Apulien vor und während der Hellenisierung'', 1914
* Michele Gervasio, ''I dolmen e la civiltà del bronzo nelle Puglie'', Bari, 1913
* Michele Gervasio, ''Bronzi arcaici e ceramica geometrica nel Museo di Bari'', 1921
*
Arthur Dale Trendall, ''The red-figured vases of Apulia, 1. Early and Middle Apulian'', Oxford 1978
* Arthur Dale Trendall, ''The red-figured vases of Apulia, 2. Late Apulian. Indexes'', Oxford 1982
* Arthur Dale Trendall & Alexander Cambitoglou, ''First supplement to the red-figured vases of Apulia'', University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin supplements 42, London 1983
* Arthur Dale Trendall & Alexander Cambitoglou, ''Second supplement to the red-figured vases of Apulia, 1-3'', University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin supplements 60, London 1991-92
* Arthur Dale Trendall, ''Rotfigurige Vasen aus Unteritalien und Sizilien. Ein Handbuch.'' von Zabern, Mainz 1991 (Kulturgeschichte der Antiken Welt Vol. 47), (esp. p. 85-177)
*
D. Randall-MacIver, ''The Iron Age in Italy'', Clarendon Press, 1927.
* Rolf Hurschmann, ''Apulische Vasen'', in
Der Neue Pauly Vol. 1 (1996), col. 922-923.
*
External links
"Early Vases from Apulia" by Stephen B. Luce, ''The Museum Journal''.
URL accessed 24/03/2013Google images for Apulian potteryPottery classifications from the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
"Workshops of Apulian Red-Figure outside Taranto" article by E.G.D. Robinson (undated)
{{Greek vase painting
5th-century BC Greek art
4th-century BC Greek art
Ancient Greek vase-painting styles
Art of Magna Graecia