Crater of columns by the Painter of Wolfenbüttel. Apulia, 4th century BC.

Crater of columns of the Painter of Wolfenbüttel. Apulia, 4th century BC.
Terracotta with red figures.
With thermoluminescence analysis.
Reintegrated with small with small gaps.
Measurements: 49,5 cm (height).

The column craters from the Apulia region (in southern Italy) are fundamental pieces of Magna Graecia pottery, produced mainly during the 4th century BC. Although they inherit the form of the Athenian models, the Apulian workshops endowed them with an exuberant and monumental personality. This piece stands out for its refined execution in the red figure technique, where the silhouettes stand out against a background of deep black varnish, enriched with polychrome details in white and yellow. The lower area of the panels is delimited by a fretwork of meanders and squares, while the lip of the vase has a subtle border of waves. The ornamentation is completed with elegant palmettes crowning the handle plates and a frieze of ivy running around the neck, underlining the decorative exuberance typical of the Apulian style.

The British Museum in London, an institution that preserves a krater by the same artist and similar characteristics to the one now being auctioned, states of the so-called "Wolfenbüttel Painter": "Painter of Apulian red-figure vessels whose name is unknown. However, the consistent individual characteristics of his style suggest the existence of a unique artistic personality. Trendall called him the Wolfenbüttel Painter, referring to the former location of a bell-shaped crater now in the Kestner Museum in Hannover. He was a collaborator of the Varrese Painter (see). Several vessels have been attributed to him based on his style."