Greek Gnathian Ware Oinochoe

Ca. 350–300 BC. Apulian. A beautiful wheel-thrown pottery oinochoe with a ringed foot, a bulbous piriform body, a corseted neck with a trefoil-style spout, and an applied handle arching between rim and shoulder. The black-glazed vessel is decorated on the front with white, red, and yellow pigment with a register of V-shaped decoration, a wave band, a row of dots, a solid red bar, a register of sprouting vine, and another solid red bar. Good condition. The Gnathian style originated from Apulia, a region located along the south-eastern coast of Italy. This style consisted of a polychromic design applied onto a dark, varnished background and takes its name from the ancient southern Italian city of Egnathia, where this type of ware was first found in the mid-19th century. The primary colours used were red, white and yellow although white soon became the dominant colour. Several written sources tell us that in the Classical world oinochoai like this one were used for ladling and pouring wine — for instance, Euripides (Eur. Tr. 820 ff.) says that Ganymede filled the kylikes (wine cups) of Zeus with golden oinochoai. For a comprehensive treatment of Gnathian pottery, see T. B. L. Webster, “Towards a Classification of Apulian Gnathian,” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies at the University of London 15 (1968) : 13–18. Provenance: From the private collection of a Kent gentleman; previously in an old British collection, formed in the 1990s on the UK /European art markets. Size: L: 105mm / W: 65mm ; 105g