4th - 1st century AD
Ancient Greece, origin Southern Italy (Apulia)
Important and superb Greek crater neck featuring on its main face a portrait of a young man in the antique style, haughty bearing,
and on the other - the reverse, a classic geometric and symmetrical plant motif (acanthus leaves, ...) surmounting a largely truncated scene, but of which fortunately a graceful and gentle female face remains, also in profile.
Decoration said "in red" on a black background.
Archaeological condition excavation, fragmentary, with a very beautiful museum reconstruction of the shards, without filling or repainting.
Visible losses and traces of limestone on the surface, specially on the face of the ephebe, which have not been cleaned. Very nice irridescence on the black backgrounds, corresponding to the alteration of the glaze of the ceramic in contact with the metallic oxides contained in the earth.
We can see in particular the start of the upper neck of a volute which served as a handle for these large Greek vases, and on the lower part, the double start of the base of this handle, therefore openwork in its center.
Provenance, therefore, from a private archaeology collection in Clermont Ferrand, before 1970's
This piece is part of a pendant which will be put up for sale in my next ads (see last photo) Dimensions 40cm cm diameter and height approximately
Sizes
around 40cm diameter and 35cm high
To compare per example to the large greek crater from the collection of the Cavet institure in Avignon, inventory number 998-4
https://www.institutcalvet.fr/fr/les-oeuvres/cratere-volutes-apulien-figures-rouges