Gnathia vases are a type of pottery belonging to ancient

Apulian vase painting Apulian vase painting was a regional style of South Italian vase painting from ancient Apulia. It comprises geometric pottery and red-figure pottery. The legitimate Iron Age sequel to the Neolithic and Bronze Age culture of Matera and Molfetta h ...

of the 4th century BC. They are named after the ancient city of Gnathia (now Egnazia) in Eastern

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

. There, the first examples of the style were discovered in the mid-19th century. Their production began in Apulia around 370/360 BC, in parallel to the local version of the red-figure style which developed tendencies towards polychromy around that time. Typical of Gnathia vases is the application of different paints directly onto the glazed vase body. Additionally, internal details could be added by incision. The themes depicted include

erotes In Ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Erotes () are a collective of winged gods associated with love and sexual intercourse. They are part of Aphrodite's retinue. ''Erotes'' (Greek ) is the plural of ''Eros'' ("Love, Desire"), who as a sin ...

, images from the life of women, theatre scenes and dionysiac motifs. Figural, painting is often limited to the upper half of the vessel body, while the bottom half often bears only ornamental decoration. The most common shapes were bell kraters, '' pelikes'', ''

oinochoai An oenochoe, also spelled oinochoe ( grc, οἰνοχόη; from grc, οἶνος ''oînos'', "wine" and grc, χέω ''khéō'', "I pour," sense "wine-pourer"; plural ''oinochoai''; New Latin ''oenochoë,'' plural ''oenochoae,'' English plura ...

'' and ''

skyphoi A ''skyphos'' ( grc, σκύφος; plural ''skyphoi'') is a two-handled deep wine-cup on a low flanged base or none. The handles may be horizontal ear-shaped thumbholds that project from the rim (in both Corinthian and Athenian shapes), or they ma ...

''. The most important artists are the Konnakis Painter and the Rose Painter. Bell-krater hare BM F547

Initially, a broad palette of paints, including white, yellow, orange, red, brown, green and others, was used, but after 330 BC the extensive use of white paint dominated. At the same time, the thematic range was reduced, limiting itself to tendrils of vine, ivy or laurel, theatrical masks, and, within the tendrils, male and female heads, doves and swans. The lower half of the vessels was now often ribbed. Apart from ''oinochoai'', ''skyphos'' and ''pelikes'', shapes also included bottles, ''

lekythoi A lekythos (plural lekythoi) is a type of ancient Greek vessel used for storing oil (Greek λήκυθος), especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel, and is thus a narrow type of jug, with no po ...

'', bowls and '' kantharoi''. The most important painters of this phase are the Painter of the Louvre Bottle and the Dunedin Painter. The final phase, of about 25 years, is marked by a return to figural painting, predominantly depicting erotes. ''Kantharoi'' and bowls with painted-on handles are now the main shapes. Ribbing is still in use, as is the copious application of white paint, now with yellow added for shading. Unlike local red-figure pottery, South Italian Gnathia vases were also traded to other regions of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

areas. They had considerable influence on some local pottery styles, such as

West Slope pottery The modern term West Slope pottery describes a type of Greek fine pottery from the Late Classical and Hellenistic periods. West Slope pottery was especially widespread in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The name was coined in 1901 by Carl Watz ...

. Gnathia vases were not only produced in

Apulian it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, but also in Campanian, Paestan and Sicilian vase painting. In South Italy, only Lucanian vase painting did not generally imitate them. In

Etruria Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria. Etruscan Etruria The ancient people of Etruria are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...

, the Pocolum Class was produced by a vase painter who had emigrated from Southern Italy.

Bibliography

Rolf Hurschmann Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. ...

: ''Gnathiavasen''. In: ''

Der Neue Pauly Der or DER may refer to: Places * Darkənd, Azerbaijan * Dearborn (Amtrak station) (station code), in Michigan, US * Der (Sumer), an ancient city located in modern-day Iraq * d'Entrecasteaux Ridge, an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean ...

'', vol. 4, 1998, cols. 1106–1107.

External links

{{Greek vase painting Ancient Greek vase-painting styles