The technique consisted of painting the motifs on the still-wet piece, using a transparent varnish which, when fired, took on an intense black hue. Each figure was silhouetted against a black background, allowing the painters to portray anatomical details with greater accuracy and variety. The red-figure technique, on the other hand, allowed greater freedom.
Painters working with black figures were forced to keep the motifs well separated from each other and to limit the complexity of the illustration. The technical basis was the same in both cases, but in the red figures the colouring is inverted, with the figures highlighted against a dark background, as if illuminated by a theatrical light, following a more natural pattern. It replaced the previous predominant style of black-figured pottery within a few decades. It developed in Athens around 530 BC, and was used until the 3rd century BC. Red-figure pottery was one of the most important figurative styles of Greek production. The pottery produced by the Greek colonies on the Italic Peninsula then took the place of Athenian pottery on the Mediterranean market. From 320 BC onwards Athens no longer exported pottery, and only a few vessels were produced as prizes for athletes in the Panathenaeans. This vessel comes from the region of Apulia in southern Italy, where Daunia, now the province of Foggia, and Messapia, in the southern part of the region, are located. It was intended for storing and transporting liquid or solid foodstuffs. It has two vertical handles facing each other, which run down from the narrow mouth with a very wide lip to the beginning of the almost spherical body. The peliké is a Greek ceramic vessel, classified as a variety of the amphora, but with a wider base. As a curiosity, an orange-red X stands out on the base of the vessel. The neck of the vase is decorated with a frieze of waves, another Greek pictorial characteristic. The "Beautiful Ladies" are framed by vegetal decoration, and below the handles, the typical palmette that decorates Greek vases of this period. They are identified as the motif of the 'Beautiful Lady', a representation of a female figure that is not associated with any god or identifiable personage, but which appears on most Magna Graecia ceramic vessels with the same characteristics. Both faces are painted in profile, with long hair tied back in a bun, knotted by a rope, decorated in white. It is decorated with a pictorial scene in red, with details in white, consisting of a woman's head on each of the sides of the vessel, placed between plant motifs. Acquired around the 1950s.Ĭonservation: One handle and part of the lip are missing.Ī ceramic vessel from the Apulia region that can be identified by its shape as a Peliké.
Provenance: Private collection, Sudbury, USA.
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