Magna Graecia, Southern Italy, Greek colony of Apulia, ca. 340 to 320 BCE. Among the finest kantharoi we have ever handled, a stunning wine vessel of an elegant form with high arching handles having support struts and thumb spurs and molded maskettes at the interior join to the rim. The cylindrical body flares out to the rim and is set on a slender stem with a medial ridge and a stepped foot. Adding to this perfect form is the finely executed painted iconographic and decorative program. One side depicts a fierce, armed Amazon woman standing in composite profile before her valiant white horse; the other features a violent encounter between a helmeted male warrior wielding his sword and shield at another Amazon who is grabbing the male figure's thigh with her left hand and brandishing a weapon in her left. Above these impressive scenes is a band of stylized tongues decorating the rim. Impressive depictions, all skillfully delineated in red-figure with added fugitive white and yellow pigments to render the details. Size: 8.625" W handle span x 9.75" H (21.9 cm x 24.8 cm)

The Amazons were the famed Scythian women warriors whose fighting prowess simultaneously seemed to fascinate and repulse Greek men in equal measure. Note how the painter of this vase delineated flattering renderings of their curvaceous bodies - their flowing garments accentuating every feminine curve - and embellished them with white sleeves and white stockings with crisscrossed lacing, as well as fanciful white headdresses. At the same time that their feminine beauty is highlighted, both Amazonian women are presented in action as fierce warriors of equal measure to any male rival.

The Amazons were a race of female warriors who played prominent roles in various Greek myths and lived in the area that is now the Ukraine. In one myth they attacked the Lycia region but were fended off by Bellerophon. Following this they later attacked Phrygia, but were defeated once again by an army led by Priam who later became king of Troy. During the Trojan War, under the leadership of Queen Penthesilea, the Amazons assisted Priam in defending his city. In one battle, Achilles killed Penthesilea. Throughout the Roman Empire, the Amazons became associated with many historical individuals and several accounts discuss Amazon raids in Anatolia.

The sexuality of the Amazons is a source of much interest, as no men were allowed to live with them; however, once a year, the Amazons would visit the nearby Gargareans tribe in order to mate and continue their race. They purportedly kept all the female babies but the males were either killed, sent to their fathers, or abandoned in the forest to succumb to the harsh elements of nature.

Provenance: private Carlton collection, Los Angeles, California USA

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#122065

Tiny near invisible nick to rim. Slight losses to pigment as shown. But overall excellent with a striking painted program and marvelous iridescence to the black pigment.