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ETRUSCAN BLACK-FIGURE ONE-HANDELED KANTHAROS BY THE MICALI PAINTER A plastic head on the handle; a dancing nude male, dolphins, sphinx, animals. Rare. Published: Munzen und Medaillen, Kunst Werke der Antike, 1983, no. 12; N. Spivey, Micali Painter and His Followers, Oxford, 1987. Pub: M&M, Italische Keramik, Literatur über Skulptur und Vasemalerei, 1984, pp.15-16, no. 22. Ex Munzen und Medaillen, sale 63, Basel; Patricia Kluge collection, Charlottesville, Virginia, acquired from Royal-Athena in 1990. Ca. 510-500 BC H. 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm.) Art of the Ancient World, 2011, no. 137 1,000 Years of Ancient Greek Vases II, no. 186 PK0992K SOLD |
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| On top of the rim, flanking the handle juncture, are a pair of knobs. There are rounded flanges at the top of the handle, and between these, facing inward, is a plastic head of a female wearing a pointed hat: a tutulus. Although such a vessel is often referred to as a kyathos, this is a misnomer. A kyathos is a dipper, a smaller and more delicate vessel with a ring foot. It is primarily an Attic shape, but there are a few Etruscan black-figure examples, including at least one by the Micali Painter: Galerie Gunter Puhze, Kunst der Antike, Katalog 8, no. 185. This vase is a one-handled kantharos, a type also known in Attic black-figure (see Beazley, ABV 346). The Etruscan black-figure examples descend from a similar shape in Bucchero, and it is likely that the Attic examples were produced with the Etruscan markets in mind. The one-handled kantharos was a favorite shape of the Micali Painter, who painted at least 15 others. Most of these also have the knobs on the rim and many have the rounded flanges on the handle, frequently decorated with dolphins: e.g. Boston 13.92; A. Fairbanks, Catalogue of Greek and Etruscan Vases I. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Cambridge, Mass. 1928) pl. 77, no. 576. The plastic head on the handle is unique and may derive from bucchero examples. The style of the drawing is typical of the Micali Painter, the most talented and prolific of the Etruscan vase-painters of the late 6th century. These artists imitated the Attic black-figure vases so popular in Etruria, but in a manner – and on shapes – that left no doubt as to their imitative nature. The Micali Painter is named after Giuseppe Micali (d. 1844), an Italian Etruscologist. The bulk of the painter’s vases were dug up in the early 19th century excavations of Vulci by Napoleon’s brother, though this vase was apparently not among them. The figures of the Micali Painter have a distinctive character that recalls the earthy naivete of Etruscan wall paintings; Beazley said he “has a jolly, slogging style, and must have enjoyed himself” (EVP, 1-2). The dancing youth, probably a drunken reveler, or komast, occupies the position frequently occupied by a dancing satyr or a siren. Sphinxes, leopards, and lions appear on many of the painter’s vases; rims are uncommon, and the wolf in unique. The band of ivy leaves around the rim is one of the painter’s favorite ornamental motifs. For the Micali painter, see T. Dohrn, Die schwarzfigurigen etruskischen Vasen aus der 2. Halfte des 6. Jarhunderts, Berlin, 1927; J.D. Beazley, Etruscan Vase-Painting, Oxford, 1947, 1-3, 12-15, and 29596; Nigel J. Spivey, The Micali Painter and his Followers, Oxford, 1987; and Un artista etrusco e il suo mondo. Il pittore di Micali, exhib. Cat., Villa Giulia, Rome, 1988. Broken and repaired. The foot is restored, but accurately and according to type. |
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