1920.44.121: South Italian Red-figure Fish Plate

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1920.44.121

Title

South Italian Red-figure Fish Plate

Classification

Vessels

Work Type

vessel

Date

350-320 BCE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Campania

Period

Classical period, Late, to Early Hellenistic

Culture

Greek

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/292551

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Terracotta

Technique

Wheel-made

Dimensions

5.5 x 21.5 cm (2 3/16 x 8 7/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Miss Elizabeth Gaskell Norton, Boston, MA and Miss Margaret Norton, Cambridge, MA (by 1920), gift; to the Fogg Museum, 1920.

Note: The Misses Norton were daughters of Charles Elliot Norton (1827-1908).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Misses Norton

Accession Year

1920

Object Number

1920.44.121

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description

Campanian red-figured fish plate with low stem and comparatively narrow foot. Broad, shallow bowl with an un- or self-slipped central depression set off by a raised ring. Curved rim downturned to vertical.

Orange-buff fabric. Underside of vessel is un- or self-slipped. Black-figure wave pattern on rim.

The floor of the plate is decorated with representations of two types of fish - a striped perch and a rainbow wrasse (coris) - and a torpedo. Details are in black, dilute black and brown, and added white. The torpedo has a round body, a knobby upper tail, and a long, thin lower tail that curves to the left. Dots in black and white appear on the body and upper portion of the tail. Oblique white lines represent eyes. The body is outlined in a dilute brown slip and the curved end of the tail is rimmed with white.

Both fish have pointed faces, white underbellies, lips, and gills, and details of fins and tails in added white. One fish has a black eye thinly ringed with white. Horizontal rows of dark dots appear along its body, along with a centrally placed horizontal squiggled line. The other fish has a white eye with a small black pupil, a series of curved lines arranged vertically along its back, and a short row of dots placed horizontally between the nose and first of these curved lines.

The plate is in very good condition. It has been mended at the rim.

Verification Level