ATTRIBUTED TO THE BALTIMORE PAINTER, CIRCA 330-320 B.C.

The Baltimore Painter, according to A.D. Trendall (Red-figure Vases of South Italy and Sicily, p. 97) “is the most important and significant of the later Apulian vase-painters…”. He decorates a wide range of shapes, both large and small, and many feature multi-figure mythological scenes framed by elaborate ornament. The upper register of the obverse on the present example has an assembly of gods, including Pan, Artemis, her brother Apollo with a swan on his thigh and a deer to his left, and Aphrodite. The lower register has five offering-bearers around a laver. The obverse neck is centered by a frontal head of Io amidst florals. The reverse has a youth seated within a naiskos surrounded by four offering-bearers. An unusual feature of the present vase is the fish and other marine creatures encircling the foot.

While this vase was never published by Trendall, he became aware of its existence late in his life, since a friend had sent him a copy of the 1988 exhibition catalog from Nara. The catalog is preserved in the Trendall Research Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies at La Trobe University, accompanied by his hand-written note attributing this to the Baltimore Painter.