Ancient Greek Apulian Red Figure Pelike Painted with Mythological Scenes

Epoque: 500 BC-400BC

Origine: Italy

Medium: Pottery

Literature: It is thought that the earliest red figure workshops were set up in Italy by Attic vase painters who moved West following the Peloponnesian War (431-404BC). Although they worked wholly in the Greek tradition as regards shape, subject matter and techniques of manufacture the Apulian potters adjusted their designs with an eye to their Italian market. Over time painted south Italian vases, of which the most numerous are Apulian, became distinguishable from their Attic counterparts not only by differences in shape, which can be subtle or quite obvious, but also by style. Attic and Apulian vases were the products of different worlds, one Ionian Greek with a long tradition of painted ceramics, the other colonial, mostly Dorian Greek, with a strong native element and with a history of importing Attic pottery and drawing inspiration from it for local Italian manufactures.
The prolific Apulian workshops produced many vases decorated with mythological subjects for use as grave goods and it was in this context that many were found in the 19th century.