Red-figured wine bowl (volute-krater), attributed to
the Baltimore Painter
Greek, around 325 BC
Made in Apulia (modern Puglia); perhaps from Bari, Apulia,
Italy
'The Hamilton Vase'
The principal scene depicted on this wine bowl is dominated by a
white-painted naiskos (small temple) and its occupant, a
youth and his horse. The two Ionic columns at the front are
attached to short side walls. The pediment above them is decorated
with acroteria and a central ornament, and the ceiling beams are
shown receding into the distance. The whole structure stands on a
high plinth decorated with a spiral design. Inside, the youthful
warrior is accompanied by his horse; behind him hang his
breastplate and his greaves. The added white used for the building
and its occupants suggests they were made either of marble or of
stuccoed limestone. Many fragments of such monuments have been
excavated in Taranto. The scene on the back of the vase shows a
visit to a simpler form of tomb.
In the course of the fourth century BC, vase painting in Apulia
grew increasingly ornate. The elaborate decoration on the neck of
this vase, where a female head emerges from an intricate design of
scrolls and flowers, is characteristic of late Apulian style.
The vase was one of the finest pieces in the first collection of
Sir William Hamilton. It was given star treatment in Baron
d'Hancarville's great publication of the Hamilton vases,
Antiquités Etrusques, Grecques et Romaines, tirées du Cabinet
de M. William Hamilton, Envoyé extraordinaire et plenipotentaire de
S.M. Britannique en Cours de Naples (Naples, 1766-67, recte
1767-76) and Josiah Wedgwood produced several replicas of it in
black basalt.
I. Jenkins and K. Sloan, Vases and Volcanoes: Sir Willi (London, The British Museum Press, 1996)
A.D. Trendall, Red figure vases of South Ital (New York, Thames and Hudson, 1989)
D. Williams, Greek vases (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)
L. Burn, The British Museum book of G-1, revised edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)