EXCEPTIONAL VOLUTE CRATER OF THE PAINTER OF BALTIMORE DATE: 330-310 MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE: chamois figulina clay, glossy black paint, orange coloring, sub-paintings in white, yellow and paonazzo, modeled by fast lathe and mold. Brim lip, with folded and concave rim, cylindrical neck with concave profile distinct from the oblique shoulder, large ovoid body, tall volute handles with raised margins set on a vertical bracket; along the vertical rib of the handle, at the volutes, circular hole on the inner side; volutes enclosing two heads of Gorgon subdivided in white on one side and in red on the other, bell foot and fluted to the cut; to the sides of the handles swan heads erect with the beak leaning on the shoulder of the vase. ADDITIONAL DECORATION: inside of the mouth painted, lip spared; on the rim ionic kyma; on the shoulder false baccellatura followed by ionic kyma, below the scenes figured meander right interrupted by cross of St. Andrew; under the handles large palmette double and superimposed open fan, flanked at the top by two other similar palmettes between spirals and volutes. DECORATION: side A) under the lip wave meander right, which is followed by a row of dots and an exceptional meander right in perspective, on the neck half-naked Nike seated right on the chalice of a flower and surrounded by rich volutes and inflorescences, the young woman wears the stephane radiata, earrings, armillas on wrists and ankles, pearl necklace with double strand to the neck and holds in his right hand a goose squatting facing her. On the belly is a naiskos in white with Ionic columns and high acroteria palmette, with the beams of the ceiling seen in perspective and a high podium with steps decorated with a meander, under which two men are depicted in heroic nudity. On the left an ephebe with thick curly blond hair, stopped by a tapeworm, standing three-quarter to the left, with a purple cloak draped over his shoulders, in the act of pouring wine from an oinochoe that holds in the left, while holding a long spear in the right. In front of him a mature man, seated to the right on an elegant stool, with thick curly hair, bare chest and cloak draped over his legs, holds a phiale in his right hand and leans on a spear with his left. Above are hung a flowered garland, a tapeworm and a helmet with a high crest. To the sides of the small temple they are found in double register, a man and a woman from every side in chiastic composition, seated the figures in high, standing those in low, the women richly dressed, the naked men, turned towards the defunct, holding in hand gifts that refer to the funeral rites; side B) under the lip meander to right wave and horizontal olive branch; on the neck great palmetta opened to fan between semipalmette and volute; on the belly funeral altar on a podium to which is tied a black tapeworm and topped by a large phiale with loops to scrolls; the sides of the stele in double register as the main side, a man and a woman on each side in chiastic composition, seated figures at the top, standing those at the bottom, women richly clothed, naked men, facing the stele, holding gifts in their hands: the man on the upper left a garland and a thyrsus, the woman on the upper right a cist and a harpsichord; the woman on the lower left a flabellus mirror and a floral thyrsus, the man on the right a harpsichord and a thyrsus. PRODUCTION: apulian pottery to red figures, Painter of Baltimore. STATE OF CONSERVATION: intact DIMENSIONS: h. cm 75, diam. mouth cm 36.5 ORIGIN: private collection, Bari CFR.: A.D. Trendall, The Red-figured Vases of Apulia, London 1991, Supplement II, n. 27/11 c Accompanied by thermoluminescence This lot, according to Italian law, cannot be exported / This lot, according to Italian law, can not be exported