Tall Greek Apulian Trefoil Oinochoe - Lady of Fashion

**Originally Listed At $750**

Magna Graecia, Apulian, ca. 4th century BCE. A tall-neck oinochoe decorated via the red-figure technique with wonderful details in added fugitive white and yellow pigment. The body of the vessel presents a beautiful Lady of Fashion with an elaborate beaded saccos, ear ornaments, and a beaded necklace. Above and below are bands of running wave motifs. On the neck are vertical frets with two horizontal lines above, and a complex stylized palmette adorns the area below the upraised handles. In addition to the marvelous iconographic/decorative program, the vessel presents an elegant form comprised of an inverted piriform body, a long slender neck, a trefoil lip, and a raised trifurcated strap handle joining rim to shoulder, all upon a tiered pedestal base. Size: 10.25" H (26 cm)

Perhaps the most exciting innovation in Greek vase painting was the red-figure technique, invented in Athens around 525 BCE and beloved by other artists of Magna Graecia. The red-figure technique allowed for much greater flexibility as opposed to the black-figure technique, for now the artist could use a soft, pliable brush rather than a rigid metal graver to delineate interior details, play with the thickness of the lines, as well as build up or dilute glazes to create chromatic effects. The painter would create figures by outlining them in the natural red of the vase, and then enrich these figural forms with black lines to suggest volume, at times perspectival depth, and movement, bringing those silhouettes and their environs to life. Beyond this, fugitive pigments made it possible for the artist to create additional layers of interest and detail as we see in this example.

Provenance: private Owen collection, Sussex County, New Jersey, USA, acquired in the 1990s from a US-based dealer

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#146028
Condition Report: Vessel has been professionally repaired from about a half dozen pieces (handle and base reattached) with slight areas of repainting over the break lines. Black slip has developed a gorgeous rainbow iridescence, especially on the trefoil spout.