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Apulian Gnathia Lekythos: Swan

An ancient Apulian Greek black glazed small lekythos decorated with vertical stripes on the neck, tongues and dots around the shoulder in applied white, the body decorated with a swan standing on a flower, surrounded by swirling floral motifs painted in applied white and yellow.

Apulia, Magna Graecia, South Eastern Italy.

Ca. 350 – 300 BC.

Height: 5 3/8 in. (13.6 cm).

Gnathia ware is so named as it was first found at the Apulian site of Egnathia. The black glaze ware is often decorated with applied red, white, or yellow painted floral motifs. Production probably was centered around Taras, with workshops in Egnathia, Canosa and Sicily.The output and quality of the Greek colonial potters working in Southern Italy increased greatly following the Peloponnesian War when Attic exports fell off sharply. South Italian Colonial Greek craftsmanship of the 4th century BC was an amalgamation of the Ionian (Athenian, Attic) conventions, and Doric (western colonial Greek) styles, with a noticeable native Italian aesthetic. The five predominant regional schools of South Italian pottery were: Apulian, Sicilian, Lucanian, Paestan, and Campanian.

Formerly in the collection of Jerome Eisenberg, New York.

Inv#: 8791

$4,000

Guaranteed Authentic

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