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LOT 0086
Greek Red-Figure Bell Krater with Warrior Funerary Offering Scene, Attributed to CA Painter
CAMPANIAN, 350-300 B.C.
11 5/8 in. (2.38 kg, 29.5 cm high).
Comprising a bell-shaped body with narrow stem and stepped pedestal foot, broad rim with square loop handles and palmettes beneath, frieze to sidewall: Side A: Oscan warrior with cuirass, helmet, shield and spear standing beside an altar with a female holding a patera in her extended hand, diadem in the other at her side; Side B: seated female with a patera and wreath facing a standing cloaked figure with thyrsus.
ProvenancePrivate collection, Geneva, acquired in the late 1960s.
Private collection, acquired in Geneva in 2000.
Accompanied by collector's notes and old images.
Accompanied by an original copy thermoluminescence analysis report no.QED1412/.SG-0602 from QED Laboratoire.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13219-249314.
Cf. similar style in Paul Getty Museum, inv. no.71.AE.301 in Jentoft-Nilsen, M.R., Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, The J. Paul Getty Museum-Malibu, South Italian Vases, Apulian Red-Figure, Malibu, 1990, p.16 pl.151; see an identical warrior represented on a red figure lekythos at the Capua museum (fig.1) and another amphora in the same museum, coming from the Necropolis of Caivano (Napoli) (Fig.2); for other similar works see a terracotta skyphos in the MET, accession no. 91.1.444.
FootnotesThe krater offers an interesting glimpse into the local life of Campania in the 4th century B.C. Particularly noteworthy is the depiction of the Oscan Samnite warrior, fully armed in the style of Campanian, Samnite, or Lucanian mercenaries, performing a funerary sacrifice. The depiction of the Chalcidian helmet, with its central crest and twin lateral plumes (geminae pinnae), dedicated to Mars, is extremely detailed.
The style and the way in which the figures are realised, the conformation of the women, the details of the warrior, seem to point to the workshop of the CA Painter, a Campanian red-figure vase-painter whose name is unknown. Nevertheless, consistent individual characteristics of style suggest the existence of a unique artistic personality. Trendall called him the CA Painter because he was the chief painter in the first stage of Cumaean red-figure vase-painting, the initials standing for Cumaean (C), first stage (A).
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LOT 0086
Greek Red-Figure Bell Krater with Warrior Funerary Offering Scene, Attributed to CA Painter
Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,980
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Greek Bronze Ring
Circa 4th-2nd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Comprising a slender round-section hoop and an oval bezel. 2.53 grams, 25.76 mm overall, 19.02x21.72 mm internal diameter (approximate size British T 1/2, USA 9 3/4, Europe 21.89, Japan 21)
From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s. -
Greek Terracotta Gnathian-Ware Alabastron
Apulian, circa 3rd century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,235
Piriform in profile with a carinated rim to the mouth, a low basal ring; horizontal bands and a hatched panel, concentric rings. 255 grams, 14.5 cm
Louis-Gabriel Bellon (1819-1899) collection, France. European private collection, 2009.
Among the shapes of pottery that are also mostly represented in the Gnathian style are lekanides, bombilyoi and alabastra. They were containers for ointments and perfumes, used in funerary contexts during the first phase of the ritual, when the body needed to be treated and prepared for the burial. -
Etruscan Bronze Votive Figure of Genius Sacrificulus
6th-5th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,560
Depicting a ‘genius’ making a sacrifice, his head surrounded by a radiate crown or a wreath of laurel leaves arranged in rays; bare-chested with a cloak (tebenna) falling over his left shoulder, covering his back and resting on his left arm, enveloping his legs to below the knee; holding a patera in his right hand and an acerra in his left; accompanied by a display stand. 189 grams, 12.1 cm (367 grams total, 13.4 cm high including)
Anne Betgoner, Paris, by descent. French private collection, acquired in the early 20th century. Acquired from the above by the present owner. Private collection, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13235-251199.
The figure represents a genius dressed as a priest according to the Etruscan tradition. He is celebrating a sacrifice by offering to the gods with a patera of precious liquids and perfumes, kept in the acerra or pyxis. Acerra was the name given to the casket in which the incense intended for sacrifices was placed (arcula turalis). A servant carried it to the altar, and the granules from the casket were scattered on the flames (acerra libare).