Ancient Xenon Pottery Olpe, Apulia, 1368

Description

This 4th century Xenon ware vessel is from Apulia, Magna Graecia. The shape may be derived from ancient Greek olpe, a pottery vase with a rim and no spout, making it more useful for drinking than for pouring.  Magna Graecia is the Roman name for coastal Southern Italy colonized by Greek city-states and first named by the Roman poet Ovid in his poem Fasti. These settlers brought their Hellenic culture that greatly influenced Italian civilization. Xenon ware is characterized by matte pale orange-red and salmon decoration over a rich black glazed terracotta body fired from red clay. This elegant wheel-thrown diminutive vessel is decorated with a painted geometric meander across the body, a band of tapering vertical lines on the shoulder and a thin line below. With a widened body and flared rim it sits on a flat short ring foot with an applied handle. Some suggest these small vessels made them easy for children to handle, while others believe they were used for votive purposes. As is usual with pieces over two millennia old, there is some fading of the painted decoration and small chips in the black glaze which reveal the color of the red clay body. However, this piece is in very good condition with no repairs or restorations.