92 - A GOOD APULIAN RED-FIGURE GUTTUS WITH A BOAR-HEAD SPOUT, THE DARIUS PAINTER’S WORKSHOP, 4TH CENTURY BC

A GOOD APULIAN RED-FIGURE GUTTUS WITH A BOAR-HEAD SPOUT, THE DARIUS PAINTER’S WORKSHOP, 4TH CENTURY BC The compressed circular body supported on a low ring foot and rising to a recessed central strainer with multiple perforations, set with a tall loop handle and a projecting spout neatly modeled as a boar’s head, its fur finely incised. The reserved terracotta body is decorated in black with a broad band of radiating tongues around the shoulder and concentric bands of ovolo encircling the central aperture, the boar’s features picked out in black. Provenance: Christie’s London, 6 May 1982, lot 210 (part lot). A private collection in England, acquired from the above, and thence by descent. Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Wear, firing irregularities, and scattered flaking to pigments. Weight: 153 g Dimensions: Height 5.6 cm, Diameter 11 cm The Darius Painter ranks among the foremost masters of South Italian red-figure vase painting. Active in Apulia during the later 4 th century BC, he is celebrated for sophisticated mythological and theatrical compositions, confident draughtsmanship, elaborate ornament, and the accomplished use of added color. His highly influential workshop disseminated this distinctive pictorial language across a wide range of vessel types and represents one of the artistic high points of late Apulian vase painting. The guttus was a pouring vessel, its name deriving from the Latin gutta, meaning ‘drop,’ in reference to the controlled dispensing of its contents through the narrow spout. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related Attic red figure guttus, dated to 470-400 BC, 3.81 x 8.25 cm, in the British Museum, London, registration number 1890,0731.29. Compare a closely related Attic red-figure guttus with a plastic lion-head spout, ring handle, and central perforated strainer, circa 380 BC, 9.5 cm in diameter, excavated at Spina, Valle Pega, tomb 65 A, now in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Ferrara, inv. no. 4250. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Christie’s New York, 9 December 2010, lot 113 Price: USD 6,250 or approx. EUR 8,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Description: An Attic red-figured guttus, circa 400 BC Expert remark: Compare the closely related lentoid form with a ring handle, central perforated filter, and molded lion-head spout. Note the figural rather than geometric decoration and the larger size (13.7 cm).