Magna Graecia, Southern Italy, Eastern Apulia, Gnathian, ca. 370 to 360 BCE. Two wheel thrown Gnathian vessels, a petite skyphos and a voluminous drinking mug with an attached loop handle, both beautifully adorned in the traditional Gnathian manner with the application of different paints directly onto the glazed blackware surface - the skyphos with added/fugitive red, white, and yellow pigments delineating a berry vine framed by red and white striations and a dotted yellow band below - the mug with an upper register of white "v" motifs, a wavy white line meandering across the central register, and a bold white and yellow zigzag with repeated yellow dots above it. Both vessels show fabulous iridescence to the black finish. Size: mug 4.125" W x 4.8" H (10.5 cm x 12.2 cm); skyphos 4.875" W x 3.5" H (12.4 cm x 8.9 cm)

Gnathia ware is named for the site where it was first discovered - the Apulian site of Egnathia. The black glaze ware is traditionally decorated with floral motifs in red, white, or yellow hues. Scholars believe that its production most likely was centered around Taras, with primary workshops in Egnathia and Canosa. The quantity and quality of Greek colonial Apulian potters increased significantly following the Peloponnesian War when Attic exports dramatically decreased. Apulian artistry demonstrates influences of Ionian (Athenian, Attic) conventions, as well as Doric (western colonial Greek) styles, with a palpable native Italian aesthetic.

Provenance: private Carlton collection, Los Angeles, California, USA, acquired between 1965 and 1980

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#127813

Mug shows minor surface wear with slight pigment losses to rim and a few scuffs here and there, but generally excellent, with inventory label on the base. Skyphos also shows slight surface wear, particularly to the rim and lower end with some glaze loss and a surface chip to lower end, and one handle probably reattached and repainted. Both show wonderful iridescence to black finish.