Details

LOT 0089

Greek Terracotta Red-Figure Hydria Depicting Offering Scene

APULIAN, 3RD-2ND CENTURY B.C.

9 in. (771 grams, 23 cm high).

With cylindrical body and broad bevelled shoulder, stepped foot, lateral squared loop handles and strap handle to shoulder, broad mouth; Side A: seated female in himation holding an offering bowl in her extended left hand; white detailing to the diadem, necklace, earrings, mirror in her right hand, rim of the bowl and elsewhere; Side B: reserved palmette motif extending to the shoulder and neck; repainted.

Provenance

Acquired on the art market between the late 1990s and mid-2000s.
Estate of the late Barry Paul Buxton (1944–2024), Oakham, Rutland.
Acquired on the UK art market, 2025.

Accompanied by a thermoluminescence analysis report no.N126a16 from Oxford Authentication.

Literature

For a similar Apulian hydria, see fig.15, p.70 in Heuer, K.E., ‘Vases with faces: isolated heads in South Italian Vase Paintings’ in Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 50 (2015), pp.62-91.

Footnotes

Apulian red-figure had a strong influence on other Italian ceramics of the late 5th century B.C. and an even greater effect from around the middle of the 4th century, with potters and painters apparently migrating to Italic centres throughout Apulia, as well as to Metaponto, Paestum and other parts of Campania. Although it is most probable that Taranto was the main centre of production for Apulian red-figure, the recent extensive finds at Canosa, Melfi and other sites suggest that there were numerous Apulian centres of manufacture.