A South Italian Bell‑Krater – a New Acquisition of the National Museum, Prague

STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/1, 77–91 ASouth Italian Bell ‑Krater– aNew Acquisition of the National Museum, Prague Helena Svobodová– Pavel Titz– Romana Kozáková ABSTRACT The Classical Antiquity Collection in the National Museum was recently enriched by the donation of an assemblage of pottery sherds. Following acareful and systematic procedure, it became possible to recon‑ struct almost an entire vessel. Subsequent analysis revealed that we were dealing with an early South Italian red ‑figure bell ‑krater. Its style of painting dates the vase to the early 4th century BC, making it close to the workshop of the Sisyphus Painter. KEY WORDS Red ‑figure pottery; krater; Early South Italian pottery production; Apulia; National Museum; Prague. INTRODUCTION In 2021, the National Museum in Prague gained anew acquisition to the Collection of classical antiquities: aSouth Italian red ‑figure bell ‑krater. It was registered in the collection under the inventory number H10‑8550. This article aims to present the new vessel in the collection to make it accessible in this way to scholars for their further study. Therefore, the vessel was studied in terms of its style and iconography. Aclay fabric analysis is presented for the same reason. Secondarily, the aim of this study was to eliminate the possibility that the purchased item was aforgery, not only through astylistic but also through ascientific analysis. We would also like to stress the, up to now, unusual way of making acquisitions by the National Museum. The acquisition itself was enabled by adonation of the Society of the National Museum, which subsidised the purchase and the restoration of the vase. In this way, the Society of the National Museum continues atradition that was interrupted during the 40‑year communist era.1 1 The Society of the National Museum, formerly under the name of ‘Society of the Patriotic Museum in Bohemia’, became the owner and administrator of the collections and manager of the museum work in 1822. The Society remained the owner of the Museum until 1934, when the collections became the property of the Czech Lands. From then onward, the Society owned the Museum only officially. The Museum was fully administered by the Czechoslovak state in 1949. After 127 years, the Society lost its influence over the institution which it had founded and managed for several generations (Sklenář 2007, 82). Today, the Society attracts people of various interests and professions who appreciate the tradition of the Czech science and culture embodied in the National Museum, and who are willing to support the Museum in various ways. 78 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/1 DESCRIPTION AND STYLISTIC ANALYSIS The vase was preserved in afragmentary state before 2021, but it bore traces of past attempts to stick the sherds together with plaster or different types of glue (Fig. 1). At that stage, it became obvious that several parts were missing and that one of the rim sherds belonged to adifferent vessel. The sherds were purchased from aprivate owner living in Prague. The assemblage was afamily inheritance. Although the last owner and seller had no information on the recent history of the sherds and on their precise findspot, an alleged provenance from South Italy was suggested through the original owner’sfamily narratives. Fig. 1: Original state of preservation. Photo by Romana Kozáková. The vase was reconstructed from fragments in the laboratory of the National Museum. As mentioned above, with the exception of one piece, all the other fragments belong to asingle bell ‑krater with aslightly out ‑turned and thick rim (Fig. 2). The rim diameter nearly equals the height of the krater which is 33.3 cm. Alaurel wreath with its leaves pointing left, between two reserved stripes, decorate aband below the rim. The laurel leaves are not veined. The han‑ dles turn slightly upwards and are without decoration where they join the body of the vase, which curves gradually inwards toward the stem. Asimple disk foot is attached to the stem. The foot is painted black apart from two reserved stripes on its edges. Beneath the images on both sides there is ameander pattern. On the obverse, the meander is interrupted by two saltire ‑squares, one with black, short strokes, the other with black dots in the centre of each of its four sides. On the reverse, aband of meander is interrupted by two cross ‑squares with oblique strokes at each corner. There is alarge hole in the base of the vessel. 79HELENA SVOBODOVÁ– PAVEL TITZ– ROMANA KOZÁKOVÁ Fig. 3: The obverse of the vase. Photo by Alžběta Kumstátová. Fig. 2: Profile drawing of the krater after reconstruction. Drawing by Andrea Waldhauserová. 80 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/1 The obverse of the vase is decorated with athree ‑figured composition (Fig. 3, Pl. 2/1). To the left anaked youth is standing with his legs crossed. His left hand is holding the vertical shaft of along spear, the bronze butt of which is pointing down (Fig. 4). His right hand is resting on his hip with fingers clenched in afist. Ahimation is wrapped around his right arm and then runs behind his back and hangs down in aseries of folds along both sides of the figure. The vertical black border flanks the edge of the himation. The figure is slender, the stance is relaxed, and the body bent backwards. He has short hair, arather long nose and asmall chin. Aline is drawn between the upper eyelid and the brow. Next to him is standing another male figure. He is holding aspear in his left hand, while his right hand is resting on his hip. Acloak draped over his left arm falls down behind his back and hangs over his right arm. His head, with short hair, is slightly bending downwards. He is looking towards afemale figure holding aribbed phiale in her right palm (Fig. 5). Only the upper part of her body is preserved; she is wearing achiton with short sleeves. The folds of her garments are fine and reflect the anatomy of her body. From the left shoulder the thick vertical seam is painted in athick black line. Due to the damage, only the lower part of awavy hem of her chiton is visible above the groundline. Her black hair is tied into abun at the back of her head, she is wearing asphendone and abeaded necklace. She is looking towards the two male figures. Between the woman and the man there is atendril growing. Fig. 4: Youth figure of the obverse sce‑ ne. Photo by Alžběta Kumstátová. 81HELENA SVOBODOVÁ– PAVEL TITZ– ROMANA KOZÁKOVÁ Fig. 5: Female figure of the obverse scene. Photo by Alžběta Kumstátová. The reverse of the vase is also decorated with athree ‑figure composition (Fig. 6). On the left is the head of ayouth. He is looking towards the youth in the middle. His fine profile is iden‑ tical to that of the youth next to him. His body is not preserved, except for apart of his cloak (himation) above the groundline. Abarefoot youth in the middle is standing with his weight on his left leg (Fig. 7). His right arm is extended outwards and is holding astaff, while his left arm is resting on his hip beneath the cloak, which is draped over his body leaving his chest and right arm bare. His head is in profile to the right. He has short curly hair with areserved contour. His features are well drawn; his eye and brow are tilted upwards and his mouth is downturned. He is facing towards the head and upper part of the body of adraped youth to the right. The head of this figure is drawn in profile to the left. The youth has apointed nose, downward curved mouth and asmall chin. The lower part of his himation and bare feet are preserved above the groundline. Above the youths, there is apair of halteres (?). On both sides of the krater, we can see two different three ‑figured compositions with figures in calm and relaxed positions. The scenes are not easy to interpret due to the lack of additional attributes. Awoman holding apatera or aphiale on the obverse is sometimes linked to Dionysus or his adherents. Although Dionysiac themes were favourite subjects among South Italian vase painters and predominate over other mythological scenes, on our vase, we miss the figures (i.e., the satyrs), or the objects (i.e., the thyrsus, or those related to the symposium) (see Cambitoglou– Trendall 1961, pl. IV:17) indicating aDionysiac scene. The scene is devoid of movement (dancing), the entire composition lacks strength and displays asolemn attitude of the figures arranged in calm groups. Another type of scene representing awoman with apatera together with two men relates to the pouring of alibation for the departing warriors (Trendall– Cambitoglou 1978, pl. I:1–2). In such scenes, men are usually well identified by their shields and helmets. Two youths holding spears are depicted on acolumn ‑krater in the British Museum (Cambitoglou– Trendall 1961, pl. IX:39–40). Between them there is aseated figure on aklismos and awoman holding aphiale and an epichysis. Both youths have apilos attached by aribbon around the neck, hanging down their back. The scene may represent the departure of Dioskouroi (Cambitoglou– Trendall 1961, 28). Two naked male figures 82 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/1 with spears in the company of adraped woman, in this case wearing awreath, are depicted on abell ‑krater in Naples (Cambitoglou– Trendall 1961, pl. I:3). On the reverse of the Prague krater, the scene of three draped youths, one holding astick, and with the halteres (?) hanging between the two to the right, may represent aconversation scene from apalaestra, alluding to daily life, which occupied aprominent place in South Italian vase ‑painting. On the reverse, the youth in the middle (Fig. 7) adopts apose and draping of his himation similar to that of the figures by the Sisyphus Painter: he is leaning upon astick held in his right hand, with his left hand resting on his hip and the head facing the youth to the right. For an almost identical scene, see abell ‑krater in Vienna (Cambitoglou– Trendall 1961, pl. II:6), and abell ‑krater in London (Trendall 1989, fig. 39), cf. also the treatment of the mantle at his waist, with the rows of horizontal folds. Since the fully draped youths on the sides are only partly preserved, their position can only be hypothetically reconstructed, as shown in Figure 8. Asimilar three ‑figured composition can be seen on the reverse of bell ‑kraters in Naples and Jena (Cambitoglou– Trendall 1961, pl. I: figs. 2, 4) and abell ‑krater in Matera (Trendall– Cambitoglou 1978, pl. 6:2) as well as in the Louvre (CVA Louvre 25, pl. 38:3, note especially the youth in the middle who is holding astick in his right hand). In these scenes, the central youths are draped with himatia leaving only their shoulders bare. In the Sisyphus Fig. 6: The reverse of the vase. Photo by Alžběta Kumstátová. 83HELENA SVOBODOVÁ– PAVEL TITZ– ROMANA KOZÁKOVÁ Painter’slater work, ablack border appears at the top of the himation along the chest and the left shoulder (see the middle figure on the reverse of abell ‑krater in Milan, CVA Milan ‘H.A’ II collection, IVD, pl. 6:4). The head of the youth in the middle, on the reverse of our vase, with the curls along his face, has been closely associated with the figures on abell ‑krater in the Louvre by the Sisyphus Painter (Serino 2014, fig. 13f). Furthermore, the youth in three ‑quarter view, with the crossed legs, finds parallels in ayouth on the obverse of avolute ‑krater in Matera (Trendall– Cambitoglou 1978, pl. 6:1) and in another example in Saint Petersburg (Tren‑ dall– Cambitoglou 1978, pl. 7:3) in which anaked male figure with astrigil in his hand is standing next to ayounger man. It has been acknowledged that the Sisyphus Painter influenced the works of the Tar‑ porley Painter who started as his pupil. The nude youths of the Tarporley Painter often rest their weight on one leg (usually the left) and keep their other leg slightly bent. Heads tend to be fairly small and often slightly bowed, as seen on the youth on the left, on the obverse of our vase (his weight rests on his right leg), who can be paralleled with anude youth on Fig. 7: The youth in the middle of the reverse scene. Photo by Alžběta Kumstátová. 84 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/1 bell ‑kraters in the Fogg Museum and in Sydney (Trendall– Cambitoglou 1978, pl. 14).2 It is also worth noting the thick black double line on the lower selvedge of his drapery, which is similar to that of astanding youth on apelike in Naples (Trendall– Cambitoglou 1978, pl. XIII:62). Aclose parallel to our naked youth is the posture of Perseus on abell ‑krater in Boston (Padgettetal. 1993, fig. 10) attributed to the Tarporley Painter. The youth is holding aspear in his left hand and resting his right hand on his hip. There is also adouble black wavy line on the lower selvedge of his drapery. The Tarporley Painter was fond of Dionysiac themes. Adraped woman with patera often appears on his vases (e.g. abell ‑krater in Taranto, Ragusa coll., Trendall– Cambitoglou 1978, pl. 15:1–2 with afemale figure holding apatera in her right hand and asitula in her left; amaenad with aphiale in her right hand and afawnskin across her left arm, Cambitoglou– Trendall 1961, pl. XI:51; amaenad with aphiale and athyrsus in Vienna, Cambitoglou– Trendall 1961, pl. XII:54 or awoman on alebes gamikos in Cork, Cambitoglou– Trendall 1961, pl. XIII:65). The Sisyphean influence on the work of the Tarporley Painter is also seen on the youths on the reverses. They too have their himatia draped so as to leave one shoulder and part of the chest exposed and also have ablack thick line on the edge of the himatia (Tren‑ dall– Cambitoglou 1978, pl. 13, the youth on the left, abell ‑krater in New York; Cambito‑ glou– Trendall 1961, pl. XI:52, abell ‑krater in Bowdoin College). The unusual style of draping the himation of the youth in the middle, on the reverse of our vase can also be paralleled by examples from Sydney (CVA Australia, The Nicholson Museum 2, pl. 22–24), Trieste and Taranto (Trendall 1983, pl. III) attributed to the Lucanian Ragusa Painter, 2 We can see asimilar posture of the head of Pan on abell ‑krater in the Los Angeles County Museum (Denoyelle– Silvestrelli 2013, fig. 3). For crossed legs, see Hermes on apelike in Taranto (Cam‑ bitoglou– Trendall 1961, pl. XIV:57–60). Fig. 8: Hypothetical reconstruction of the reverse scene. Drawing by Andrea Waldhauserová. 85HELENA SVOBODOVÁ– PAVEL TITZ– ROMANA KOZÁKOVÁ but the hand of the painter is not the same. Details such as the hairstyles and physiognomy are different, especially the rendering of the nose and the eyes. The Lucanian and Apulian painters worked at the beginning of the fourth century BC in close connection, agood example of this cooperation is the so called TARDOL Group (Trendall– Cambitoglou 1978, 53–55) assembled by A.D. Trendall. It is asmall group of vases which provide aclose connecting link between the work of the Lucanian Dolon Painter and of the Apulian Tarporley and Klejman Painters. One specific detail makes the vessel in Prague unusual. Regarding the framing bands, not only the Tarporley and the Sisyphus Painters, but also the majority of other painters used only one type of meander band on asingle vase. In Prague we see asaltire ‑square band on one side and across ‑square band on the other. THE FUNCTION OF THE KRATER When the authors dealt with the assemblage of sherds for the first time it was easy to distin‑ guish two different surfaces of the fragment edges. All of the sharp and fresh ‑looking edges were incorporated into the body of the vessel during the reconstruction. Such breaks are therefore the result of the final damage to the krater. But it was possible to observe different types of breaks on the surface as well. Obviously worn or weathered edges encircle apartially irregular hole in the centre of the vessel bottom. It is approximately 6.5×7.0 cm wide (for the different appearance of such surfaces see Fig. 1). It is obvious that the hole in the bottom was not made by the potter before firing. It also has nothing to do with the improvement of the firing process as has been suggested by some scholars to explain the existence of holes made by potters (Robinson 2014, 229, footnote 92). In such acase the glaze would cover at aleast part of the hole edges. No doubt, the hole was secondarily made and the weathered condition of the hole edges witness possible exposure of the vase to the elements for acertain time (Fig. 9). Fig. 9: Detail of the hole in the bottom of the vase. Photo by Alžběta Kumstátová. 218 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/1 Pl. 2/1: The obverse of the vase. Photo by Alžběta Kumstátová. 219PLATES Pl. 2/2: The edges of the background are carelessly terminated. Photo by Romana Kozáková. Pl. 2/3 Diluted glaze and relief lines made of dense glaze. Photo by Romana Kozáková. Pl. 2/4: The side light highlights the structure of the painted drapery. The fine lines are the last layer of the painting and were applied in apasty form. Photo by Romana Kozáková. Pl. 2/5: Multiple sketching of the face highli‑ ghted by the side light. Photo by Romana Kozáková. 220 STUDIA HERCYNIA XXVI/1 Pl. 2/7: An image of the transition point between the black glaze and the ceramic body. a– in tran‑ smitted polarized light (the black glaze is in the upper part); b– in BSE (the black glaze is in right upper corner). Photo by Martina Kohoutková (Kloužková 2021). Pl. 2/6: a– An image of ayoung male figure in visible light; b– The UV light makes areas with the remains of the varnish more visible (orange parts in the face, chest and in the wreath below the rim). Photo by Romana Kozáková.