EXCEPTIONAL CRATER TO VOLUTE OF THE PAINTER OF... Lot 255

EXCEPTIONAL CRATER TO VOLUTE OF THE PAINTER OF BALTIMORA DATE: 330-310 BC. MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE: chamois figulina clay, glossy black paint, orange coloring, sub-paintings in white, yellow and paonazzo, modeled by fast lathe and mold. Brim lip, with folded and concave rim, cylindrical neck with concave profile distinct from the oblique shoulder, large ovoid body, tall volute handles with raised margins set on a vertical bracket; along the vertical rib of the handle, at the volutes, circular hole on the inner side; volutes enclosing two heads of Gorgon subdivided in white on one side and in red on the other, bell foot and fluted to the cut; to the sides of the handles swan heads erect with the beak leaning on the shoulder of the vase. ADDITIONAL DECORATION: varnished interior of the mouth, lip spared; on the rim Ionic kyma; on the shoulder false baccellatura, below the scenes figured meander left interrupted by a checkerboard motif; under the handles large palmette double and overlapping open fan, flanked at the top by two other similar palmettes between spirals and volutes. DECORATION: side A) under the lip wave meander right, followed by a row of dots and an exceptional meander left in perspective; on the neck androgynous erote facing right and retrospective; the erote is seated on the chalice of a flower and is surrounded by rich volutes and inflorescences; the young man wears the kekryphalos from which emerges a fluffy tuft of hair, the stephane radiata, earrings, armille on the wrists and ankles, pearl necklace double thread at the neck and left thigh and bandolier on the chest and holds in his right hand a goose squatting facing him. On the belly is a naiskos in white with Ionic columns and high acroteria palmette, with the beams of the ceiling seen in perspective and a high podium with steps decorated with a meander, under which is depicted the deceased, in heroic nudity. The man is represented young, with thick curly blond hair, stopped by a tapeworm, standing three-quarter to the right, with the purple cloak draped over the arms behind his shoulders, in the act of holding with the right hand the halter of a white horse, with mane elegantly combed and infiocchettata, standing on the right with the front right leg raised. The man leans on a long spear that he holds in his left hand; above hangs a flowered garland with a tapeworm and a helmet with a high crest. To the sides of the temple are in double register, a man and a woman on each side in chiastic composition, all seated, the women richly clothed, naked men, facing the deceased holding in their hands gifts that refer to funeral rites; side B) under the lip wave meander right and horizontal olive branch; on the neck large palmette open to fan between semipalmette and volutes; on the belly funeral altar on a podium to which are tied a black tapeworm and a white and is surmounted by a patera baccellata; the sides of the stele in double register as the main side, a man and a woman on each side in chiastic composition, all seated, the women richly clothed, naked men, facing the stele holding gifts in hand: the man on the upper left a phiale with lid and a bunch of grapes, the woman on the upper right a mirror and a flabello; the woman on the lower left two overlapping phialai and a mirror, the man on the right also two overlapping phialai and a tirso. PRODUCTION: apulian ceramics to red figures, Painter of Baltimore STATE OF CONSERVATION: intact DIMENSIONS: h. cm 78, diam. mouth cm 38,5 ORIGIN: private collection, Bari CFR.: A.D. Trendall, The Red-figured Vases of Apulia, London 1991, Supplement II Equipped with thermoluminescence This lot, according to Italian law, can not be exported / This lot, according to Italian law, can not be exported