ATTRIBUTED TO THE DECHTER PAINTER, CIRCA 360-340 B.C.

Details

AN APULIAN RED-FIGURED BELL-KRATER
ATTRIBUTED TO THE DECHTER PAINTER, CIRCA 360-340 B.C.
10 1/8 in. (25.7 cm.) high

Provenance

Antiquities, Sotheby's, London, 17 May 1971, lot 151.
Hanita E. (1915-2019) and Aaron (1918-2000) Dechter, Los Angeles, acquired from the above; thence by descent.

Literature

J. Frel and S. Holo, South Italian Vases, Malibu, 1974, no. 4.
A.D. Trendall and A. Cambitoglou, The Red-Figure Vases of Apulia, vol. 1, Oxford, 1978, p. 272, no. 79.
A.D. Trendall and A. Cambitoglou, First Supplement to the Red-Figured Vases of Apulia, London, 1983, p. 33.
M.E. Mayo, ed., The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia, Richmond, 1982, p. 92, no. 22.
K. Hamma, ed., The Dechter Collection of Greek Vases, San Bernardino, 1989, p. 56, no. 29.

Exhibited

Malibu, The Getty Villa, South Italian Vases, 22 May-10 August 1974.
Richmond, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Tulsa, The Philbrook Art Center; The Detroit Institute of Arts, The Art of South Italy: Vases from Magna Graecia, 12 May 1982-10 April 1983.
San Bernardino and Northridge, University Art Galleries, California State University, The Dechter Collection of Greek Vases, 5 May 1989-30 March 1990.

Brought to you by

Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist

hsolomon@christies.com +1 212 636 2256

Lot Essay

The obverse of this krater is centered by a woman seated on a klismos. She wears a belted peplos and a himation, the fringes of which are held in her bejeweled left hand; her hair is bound in a sakkos. To her left is a youth, nude but for a chlamys draped over his left arm and pulled across his back, its edges held in his right hand. He holds a fruit-laden patera in his left hand. To the right stands a woman wearing a peplos and holding a mirror towards the seated woman whose reflection appears in added white. On the obverse are three youths, one nude and two draped. Mayo (op cit.) suggests that the gesture of the seated woman on the obverse can be interpreted as anakalypsis, the ritual unveiling of a bride.

More from Antiquities

View All