CIRCA 350-340 B.C.

Details

AN APULIAN POTTERY FIGURAL VASE
CIRCA 350-340 B.C.
Molded in the form of a hippocamp on a rectangular plinth, a skirt of fins at the merge of the equine forepart with the long undulating sea-serpent body, the head naturalistically modelled and turned slightly to its right, supporting itself on a pair of fins, a small dorsal fin along its body, the tail bifurcated at its tip, the hippocamp in reserve with details in black and added white and yellow, including a black band with white and yellow dots along the length of the body framed by white and yellow on black dots, a band of wave on the plinth, the conical bowl emerging from the back, the front decorated in red-figure with a winged Pegasos flying to the right above a white dotted groundline, the strap handle at the back framed by tendrils, bands of dotted ovolo on each side low on the bowl, another below the flaring rim
7½ in. (19 cm.) long

Provenance

with Acanthus, New York, 1997.

Lot Essay

Although no parallel is known for an Apulian rhyton in the form of a hippocamp, this vase is connected by means of the style of the figured scene and the painted details to a group of rhyta listed by Trendall and Cambitoglou as "Transitional" between the Iliupersis Painter and that of the Darius Painter and his followers (see pp. 612-615 in The Red-figured Vases of Apulia).

This hippocamp differs from standard Greek depictions of the mythical creature in that it has fins instead of equine forelegs. For a survey of the subject see Icard-Gianolio, "Hippokampos" in LIMC.

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